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1 ZENOSIUS; 



THE PILGRIM-CONVERT. 



BY THE 



REV. CHARLES CONSTANTINE PISE, D.D., 

AUTHOR OF " ALETHEIA," " ST. IGNATIUS AND HIS 
FIRST COMPANIONS," ETC., ETC, 



Aliter admonendi sunt sapientes hujus saeculi, atque aliter hebetes. 
Sapientes quippe admonendi sunt ut sciant amittere quae sciunt. 
Hebetes quoque admonendi sunt ut appetant scire quae nesciunt."— 
Sti Gregorii Pap. de curd pastorali. Admon. VU., Tert. pars. 

** Unteach the learned ; the unlearned teach." 




NEW YORK: 
PUBLISHED BY EDWARD DUNIGAN, 

151 FULTON-STREET. 

1845. 







S^NX 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1845, 
By EDWARD DUNIGAN. 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District 
of New York. 

iz ^ 



\ A ^^ .^* 






k 



IBzXiicdition* 



My second Alma Mater ! — cherished * mountain,* 

To memory sacred, to affection dear : 
A solitude— but watered by the fountain 

Of science pure, and piety sincere : 
Whose rugged rocks and beauteous vales are filled 

With reminiscences that cannot fade : 
Home of bright friendships ! never to be chilled 

Or darkened by Life's wintry cold or shade. 
To thee — myself a pilgrim to thy shrine, 

Where my youth worshipped — I now dedicate 
This pilgrim-convert's story — and to thine : 

A heart-felt tribute, although small and late. 
And may thy sons, far scattered though they be, 
Reading " Zenosius," drop a passing prayer for me. 



PREFACE. 

When La Harpe, one of the most illustrious savants 
of the last century, became a convert from Infidelity to 
the Catholic Church, he was asked how it was possible 
that he could have taken such a step? His answer 
was : Tai cru quand fai examine ; examinez aussi, et 
vous croirez?- 

The cause of the prejudices existing against the Cath- 
olic Church may be traced entirely to the neglect of in- 
vestigating her claims to truth. And this is daily proved 
from the fact, that no sincere mind ever undertook to 
study the subject, but became convinced, that the only 
resting place from the infinite caprices and nameless 
errors of Sectarianism, is to be found in her bosom 

I had written thus far, when a friend, still entangled 
in Protestantism, entering my study, found me engaged 
in writing. 

" What are you composing now ?" he asked. 

" A new work on my favorite topic," I replied. " I 
style it Zenosius." 

1 I have believed after having investigated ; do you, likevt^ise, 
investigate, and you vi^ill believe. Treatise on the Fanaticism of 
the Revolutionary Language, p. 166, printed in 1797. 



PREFACE. 



" A fancy name, I presume — " 

" No, a classic one. From the Greek word ^host 
which signifies a pilgrim. My hero, disenthralled from 
the chains of Sectarianism, makes a pilgrimage to Rome, 
where he is — " 

" Well, do not be severe on Protestants," he urged, 
interrupting my sentence. 

" With their persons, and, if you choose, their sin- 
cerity, I have nothing to do," I responded ; " but as re- 
gards their errors and schism, what compromise can be 
made with them ?" 

No candid reader will, I believe, charge me with an 
intolerant, or even illiberal disposition. Much less will 
he blame me for calling things by their right names, 
especially when he considers with what little ceremony 
or regard our Church is branded and condemned by 
Protestantism. Have we not seen the incredible pre- 
sumption with which a Presbyterian Convention have 
decided, that Catholics are not even Christians, inasmuch 
as our baptism is not valid !^ And do not ministers of 
the Episcopal Church (against whose adherence to Pre- 
lacy, Presbyterians are as much opposed as both are to 
us) unite in the indecorous and unchristian vituperation ? 
The following extract from an " Exhortation" recently de- 



1 Truly the ivjluence of the Holy Spirit had forsaken these 
men, when they issued this anathema against the Church of 
Christ. What do they mean by the validity of a sacrament 
which they do not regard essential ! 



PREFACE 



livered by an Episcopal clergyman, who holds a high 
rank in the community, and from whose gentlemanly 
character and liberal principles better things were ex- 
pected, will vindicate any retaliative language of "mine 
from the charge of unprovoked severity : 

*' For this word Protestant, in the abstract, I have no 
particular hking, and should rejoice from the heart to 
see the day when it can safely be laid aside. But that 
v/ill be only when the Church of Rome has given up 
her false doctrines, her superstitious and idolatrous 
practices i and laid doicn her arrogant and unfounded 
claim of the Papal supremacy. With Dr. Hook, the 
distinguished vicar of Leeds, I agree in judgment, that 
' it is well to have a term by which we may always de- 
clare, that while we hold in common with the Church 
of Rome all which she has that is Catholic, Scriptural, 
and pure, we protest forever against her m>ultiplied 
corruptions.' " 

And, again, lest the former passage might not be suf- 
ficiently charged with acrimony, he bursts forth into this 
imprecation ; 

" For myself, if ever I advocate doctrine or senti- 
ment, or sustain measures or movements in the Church, 
which shall tend to bring back upon us the corruptions 
rid superstitions of Eomish degeneracy, or to check 

e moving wave of rivil and religious liberty which 
^uall on^ day spread itself over the earth, as the waters 



8 PREFACE 



cover the sea, * let this right hand forget its cunning, 
and this tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth.' "^ 

The present work is not controversial, but explanatory. 
Its scope is to elucidate the spirit and character of the 
Church ; — to portray, in the person of Zenosius, the 
movement which is going on among eminent and pious 
Protestant Churchmen — towards Rome. In which, be- 
sides those who have already made their peace with the 
Church, may be numbered many others, who, having 
the disposition, " are waiting only for the propitious mo- 
ment" •to follow the example of their more favored 
brethren. 

The Roman Catholic Church, despite the combined 
opposition of all Sectarians, continues to extend her 
spiritual dominion even in this our native republic. She 
has opened her gates to thousands of American con- 
verts, who, under her heavenly teaching and influence, 
will prove themselves to be exemplary Christians, and 
incorruptible citizens. 

1 It will hardly be believed that the Rev. Dr. Wainwright is the 
author of the " Exhortation," from which these sentences are ex- 
tracted. 



CONTENTS, 



Page. 
Chapter I.- -The Labyrinth of Error— Zenosius rescued— 

Eirene, the Angel of Peace 11 

Chapter II.— The Village Chapel— The Venerable Priest— 
The Woes of Infidelity— The Blessings of Reli- 
gion and Faith 16 

Chapter III. — Zenosius at Home— The Tears of Euthalia — 
A Struggle of Love and Duty — Zenosius returns 
to the Man of God — Catholic Faith — Its Charac- 
ters—Its Necessity — Its Consolations 33 

Chapter rv.— The Solitary Meditation— The Prayer— The 

Jubilee of a Converted and Believing Heart .... 56 

Chapter V. — Protestant Inconsistencies — The Brilliant Ap- 
parition — Zenosius, the Pilgrim, must leave his 
native land — He must see Rome 62 

Chapter VI.— The Heart-rending Separation— The Fading 

Cross— The Farewell— The Last Letter 84 

Chapter VII. — Zenosius in the Capital of England — The 
Genius of Saint Paul's — The Genius of West- 
minster Abbey 94 

Chapter Vni. — Zenosius musing, like Minutius FelLx, on 
the Seashore^ Another Wonderful Instructor— 
The Roman Catholic Church the Church of the 
Anglo-Saxons 103 

Chapter IX. — England under interdict— lerna's Woes and 

Exultation 128 



10 CONTENTS 



Page. 

Chapter X. — Struggle of Life and Death in the Land of 
Charlemagne — Zenosius at the Foot of the Alps 
—A Noble Greek— The Oriental Schism— Mo- 
hammedanism — Judaism 133 

Chapter XI.— The Alpine Monastery — The Peaceful Night 

— The Stormy Day — The Apposite Essay 148 

Chapter XII.— The Catholic Church the Parent of Charity 
—Her Solitaries — Descent into the Plains of Lom- 
bardy — The Greek Count developes the Sanctity 
of the Church 166 

Chapter XIII. — First Glimpse of the Vatican— Zenosius at 
the Shrine of St. Cecilia — The Capuchin Friar— 
The Consecrated Soil and Hallowed Atmosphere 
of Rome 184 

Chapter XIV. — Rome the seat of the Popes — The Blessings 
of the Papacy — The Litany Delia Consolazione — 
Objections against the Popes — Storm and Calm.. 196 

Chapter XV. — The Sabbath Morning on the Seven Hills — 
One Faith — One Sacrifice — The Capuchin's Dis- 
course in the Basilick of Saint John Lateran — 
Chains and Glory ii 210 

Chapter XVI.— The Synagogue and the Church — The Fall 

of Solyma— Night on the Sabine Hills 227 

Chapter XVII.— The ^lian Bridge— The Tomb of Paganism 
— The Vatican — The Promise of Christ to Peter 
and his Successors — The Capuchin's Last Words 
to Zenosius — Their Separation 251 

Chapter XVIII. — Zenosius finishes his Task at the Tomb 
of the " Fisherman" — Receives the Blessing of 
the Father of the Faithful — Returns to his Home 
— Euthalia a Vestal of Religion — Rest in the 
Peace of Rome 274 



ZENOSIUS. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE LABYRINTH OF ERROR THE LOST ONE RESCUED 

EIRENE. 

Daedalus ingenio fabrsB celeberrimus artis 
Ponet opus, lurbatque notas et limina flexu 
Ducet in errorem variarum ambage viarum 

implet 

Innumeras errore vias, vixque ipse reverti 

Ad limen potuit. Ovid. 

When Heresy, in cunning arts well skill'd, 
Essayed a rival edifice to build, 
With darksome passages and zigzag walls, 
A thousand mazes twisted round the halls : 
So crooked, so entangled, that, in vain, 
The vestibule he labor'd to regain. 

Paraphrased. 

" There is a mental labyrinth, more dark- 
some and tortuous than that of ancient myth- 
ological renown : one, through whose ambages 
no human guide can be found to direct the 
lost and weary wanderer ; through whose 
dense gloom no earth-lit torch can penetrate 
with certain rays. Once involved in its 



12 ZENOSIUS 



mazes, and you are inextricably bewildered. 
The mind reels with a fatal vertigo, and the 
heart throbs w4th a pulse of wretchedness, for 
which no remedy can be found — save one ! 
In that sad labyrinth have my steps been 
woven. The tracks they have made were 
inward and onward ; and even those were so 
covered with the cloud of perpetual darkness 
which broods around, that they ceased to be 
visible to the natural eye. Wo ! wo ! to 
him who trusts to mortal power to rescue 
him from that awful doom ! He will confide 
in it in vain— he will sigh for liberty in vain 
— he will look for the precious light of heav- 
en, and pant for the delicious atmosphere of 
peace, in vain. He will linger away his life 
in the never-ceasing, tiresome, w^asting effort 
of threading his path out from the tomb-like 
horrors of that eternally winding, twisting, 
zigzag labyrinth — and will drop down, mel- 
ancholy and exhausted, and die amid the 
gloom of his errors. That labyrinth is Sec- 
tarianism." 



ZENOSIUS. 13 



Such was the sohloquy of Zenosius, 
who had found that one and only remedy 
which can administer security to reason, 
happiness to the breast. Long had he been 
entangled in the mazes of Sectarianism — in 
the midst of which he felt his mind oppressed 
with doubt, and his conscience torn with sor- 
row and remorse. Through every phase of 
error had he passed, on his devious route. 
He had gone through the dense shadows of 
skepticism ; through the doubtful glimmer- 
ings of half-revealed, half-obscured Chris- 
tianity ; led on, now by fallacious reason, 
now by uncertain and disagreeing teachers, 
and then again by capricious impulses, and 
incoherent phantasies. He was led on, in- 
deed, but only to be perplexed in thicker 
entanglements, only to be ushered into deep- 
er gloom, until a drear, a fathomless abyss, 
yawned under his tottering feet. There, in 
that dreadful position, clasping his hands, 
with intense emotion, and flinging himself 
upon his knees, — while all the sorrows and 

_ 



14 ZENOSIUS 



terrors of his soul poured themselves out in 
a torrent of tears, — he burst into prayer : 
'' God of light, of truth, of peace ! direct, 
teach, quiet one so darkly and so sad ! Give 
me to know thy church ! Wherever it may 
be found, thither will I — a faithful and hum- 
ble pilgrim — bend my w^ay, no matter how 
far off the goal, or what sacrifices must be 
made to gain it. Thou alone canst liberate 
me from the woes into which I am plunged. 
Reveal to me thy will ; and let that will be 
done on earth, as it is in heaven !" 

He had hardly ceased before he perceived, 
standing by his side, a form all radiant with 
a halo that was evidently not of earth. 

" Be not alarmed, Zenosius. I am Eirene, 
— the angel of peace. Thy prayer is heard. 
From the realms of Truth I have been sent 
down to free thee from thy errors, and guide 
thee through this weary labyrinth, into the 
straight, bright path of religion. Arise ! 
Come into day ; even into the meridian lustre 
of heaven's own sun. Break asunder the 



Z^E N S lU S. 15 



entangled mazes — be free in the freedom of 
the sons of God." 

She spoke, and forthwith, as if by a taUs- 
man from above, Zenosius stood redeemed 
from his lorn and captive condition. Freshly 
and long he breathed in the pure air of an un- 
chained atmosphere : and as, in rapturous 
strains, his heart gave thanks for the price- 
less boon — '^ Rest thee till morn," Eirene 
said, **when on the wings of Aurora I 
will come down again, and tell thee what to 
do." 



16 ZENOSIUS. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE VILLAGE-CHAPEL THE VENERABLE PRIEST 

THE WOES OF INFIDELITY THE BLESSINGS OF 

RELIGION AND FAITH. 

What wonder then if I, whose favorite school 
Hath been the fields, the roads, the raral lanes, 
Look'd on this guide with reverential love 7 

Rich in love 

And sweet himianity^ he was himself 
To the degree that he desired, belo^^ed. 

WordswortTu 

Night faded before the first dawn of the 
morning. It was spring-tide. Creation 
was clad in verdure and flowers, fresh with 
aromatic dew, and beauteous as when first 
blooming and blushing in Eden's groves. 
Zenosius had arisen with the earliest light, 
and sat musing on the banks of a calm stream 
that glided near his mansion — musing on his 
wondrous liberation from darkness and error ; 
musing on the holy end for which his being, 
henceforth, was to be devoted — musing on 
the glorious bless^ings which were in store 
for him, under the guidance of his celestial 
instructress. 



ZENOSIUS. 17 



In the midst of his meditations, Eirene, 
as she had promised, stood before him. 

'' Zenosius," she called him by name, '' I 
have come to accomplish thy happiness. 
As the ' Jew of Jews,'' the down-stricken 
persecutor of Tarsus, was sent to be in- 
structed by the servant of Christ, Ananias, 
so must thou betake thee to a priest of the 
Most High, by whom thy mind will be il- 
lumined, and through whose influence, from 
thy mental vision shall drop the scales of de- 
lusion which have made thee bhnd." 

" Where doth that holy man abide ?" 
Zenosius asked; ''at what altar doth he 
minister ? Angel of Peace, though seas must 
be crossed over ere I find his dwelhng ; and 
though the sweetest relations of life must be 
rent and cast aside, in order to arrive at his 
tabernacle of Truth and Light, I am ready." 

" As vet thou wilt not have far to travel," 

replied Eirene. " In the village of , 

the white spires of whose churches thou 
seest in the distance glittering under the 

_ 



18 2 E N S I U S . 



matin-beams, his heme is to be found. Nay, 
even now, yon steeple crowned with the 
graceful Cross, which till now distinguishes 
from all other shrines the one where Chrisf s 
true worship is performed, will be the beacon 
to thy steps. Enter that ; — ^simple, humble 
as it is, compared with the grander piles of 
wealthier and worldlier congregations : — and, 
having knelt in prayer, before the altar, say 
to the priest that Heaven directed thee to 
him." 

Zenosius obeyed. There was but one 
edifice — and a lowly one in sooth, situated on 
the skirts of the village — that was graced with 
the emblem of man's redemptioiij the cross. 
Its doors were ever open to the passing 
stranger, as well as to the fervent parishioner. 
When Zenosius arrived, mass had just been 
finished. The tapers were yet glimmering 
on the altar, modest but neat ; and at its foot, 
the venerable Priest — ^^an aged and exemplary 
man — seemed absorbed in devout prayer. 
Touched with ^ reverential sentiment, and 



Z E N S I U S . 19 



overcome with a nameless emotion, such as 
before he never had experienced, Zenosius 
threw himself upon his knees, and gave 
vent to his aspirations in the following strain : 

Oh,- that my eyes might stream with tears I 
Oil, that my heart might hurst with grief! 

My sins, more numerous than the hair& 

Upon my head, awake my fears — 
Conscien€e knows no relief. 

There is a load upon my breast, 
A burden weighing down my soul r 

Relieve me, O my God, eppress'd, 

To ihee I look for peace and rest ; 

thou my grief control : 

Ah I I had lost thy promised Heaven^. 

And merited eternal wo : 
Still may that paradise be given — 
Still fer away despair be driven — 

1 hope — thou wilt bestow. 
Pardon, O Lord, thy erring child. 

Who to his Father eomes again : 
Forget not ^twas the world beguiled^ 
Whose false, but winning pleasures^ smiled — 

Pleasures io brief and vain. 



20 ZENOSIUS 



Pardon ! if not for my own sake, 

Remember Him who for me bled : 
That Cross must shield the sad and weak, . 
Disarm thy ire — nor let thee wreak 

Thy vengeance on my head. 

When the Priest withdrew from the chapel, 
Zenosius followed, and presenting himself to 
him, said : " Man of God, the meshes .of 
Sectarianism, in which for so long a time I had 
been entangled, now broken asunder by the 
grace of Heaven, my soul has escaped from 
error, and to thee have my footsteps been 
directed, that I m.ay receive the lessons of 
instruction preparatory to my being admit- 
ted into the bosom of the true and only 
Church." 

In the person of the Priest, grace, ease, 
urbanity, and dignity, were singularly blend- 
ed. As Zenosius spoke he wept, and ex- 
tending his arms, with paternal affection and 
heartfelt sympathy, embraced the stranger- 
convert. 

'' My son, thou art greatly blest ; wel- 



ZENOSIUS. 21 



come, welcome to me !" — and he mingled 
his tears with those that continued to course 
down the cheeks of Zenosius. '' Enter," 
he resumed, ^'ray small but peaceful dwell- 
ing, and I will impart to thy hungry soul the 
spiritual nourishment of truth. Happy they 
who hunger and thirst after justice, for they 
shall be filled. Favorites of God are they, 
who, impelled by the yearning of conscience, 
seek after that peace which the world can- 
not give, and find in the tents^ of Jacob — in 
the sanctuary of the church of Christ — that 
bliss of heart which thousands of years 
spent in the tabernacles of Sectarianism 
could not afford. Enter." 

The door of the humble dwelling opened, 
and received into its asylum the delighted 
pilgrim, now in pursuit of instruction. The 
situation was delicious — the scenery roman- 
tic. From the porch, to which they repaired, 
for the purpose of beginning the all-import- 
ant disquisition, a vast horizon stretched, 
clear, bright, and beautiful, embracing, in its 



22 ZENOSIUS 



circumference, hill, dale, stream, and forest. 
Birds were chirping on the boughs of the 
trees that grew near, and cattle were brows- 
ing, in the fresh shade, over the verdant 
fields. No place, no hour, no scene, could 
be more appropriate for the investigation of 
the subject which Zenosius desired first to 
have treated by his venerable teacher. 

'^ Amid these quiet and blessed haunts of 
rehgion," he said, *' thou wilt speak to me, 
O Priest of God, of the priceless advantages 
and blessings of faith, and of the woes and 
mischiefs of irreligion. In my career to the 
tabernacle of Rome, I would start from the 
first elements of Christian wisdom, which I 
pray thee develop in our present conversa- 
tion." 

The venerable Priest, invoking the bless- 
ing of the Holy Ghost, began : " My son, 
the unbeliever's state is that of continual 
contradiction — with himself : he gropes 
through a fatal inconsistency. Deeming 
himself enlightened, he is lost in darkness : 



ZENOSIUS. 23 



fancying himself guiltless, he is stained with 
iniquity. To the inadequate standard of 
human Reason he refers every thing : to 
the infallible tribunal of Faith, nothing. He 
boasts that he is an enlightened being — that 
his Creator is no lover of religious darkness. 
He regards faith as the refuge of low and cra- 
ven minds ; while those of a high and mag- 
nanimous character hold all things in sub- 
jection. The)^ soar to the heavens on high ; 
they dive down into the abysses below ; they 
range from sphere to sphere. To such 
minds, he asserts, obscure mysteries are a 
degradation, and faith is a chimera. 

" But in this, the infidel labors under a 
strange and lamentable hallucination. Be- 
cause his reason cannot comiprehend the se- 
crets of the physical creation — the simplest 
phenomena that exist around him. The 
numberless schools of infidelity — propagated 
under different denominations — are in con- 
tradiction with one another. Deism, Pan- 
theismx, Materialism, possess no homogene- 



24 ZENOSIUS 



ous qualities. Zeno, Epicurus, Anaxagoras, 
Spinosa, Voltaire, Rousseau, know but one 
character of sympathy, and that is the in- 
fernal sympathy of evil spirits warring 
against the Truth — nay, some of them even 
against the Supreme Creator. These, led 
forward by the blind impulse of mere na- 
ture, destroy human liberty, by reducing man 
to the condition of an automaton ; or, by 
making him a machine, which, wound up by 
the hand of destiny, continues to move and 
act only till it runs down. Consequently, 
they recognise no difference between Virtue 
and Vice. In the former there is nothing 
praiseworthy ; there is nothing punishable 
in the latter. 

'' I am aware that the masters of these 
schools of infidelity do not openly declaim 
against the virtues of rehgion. They would, 
on the contrary, fain persuade their disciples 
of their sublimity and importance. Their 
vaunted maxim is, that society should be 
made happy : that a tenor of moral recti- 



ZENOSIUS. 25 



tude should be pursued : that honesty, 
equity, right, should flourish and prevail. 
These are, indeed, the lessons of their 
theory, but this theory is contradicted and 
trampled upon by their inconsistent practice. 
'' The unbeliever never can be brought to 
understand, much less to carry out, in his 
habitual conduct, the necessity of virtue, 
piety, and good works. He cherishes no 
such conviction : and where such conviction 
does not act upon the human will and pas- 
sions, what check can be applied to the ca- 
prices of the one, and the impetuosity of the 
other ? Without it, there is no motive for 
uprightness, charity, or common honesty — 
much less for the sweet yet rigid morality 
of Jesus. The heart, unrestrained and un- 
chastened by that conviction, recks not either 
the heavenly allurements of Mercy, or the 
terrible denunciations of Justice. It is sway- 
ed by self-interest, by self-indulgence, by self- 
gratification. The mind, untutored by its in- 
fluences, is estranged from that divine and 



26 Z E N O S I u s . 



holy spirit by which the face of the earth 
has been changed, the ahars of the passions 
have been demohshed, and the idols of na- 
ture annihilated. That spirit which has re- 
generated the moral constitution of man ; 
which has taught him how to adore the true 
God ; to curb his own licentious propensi- 
ties ; to sacrifice his pride ; to reduce into 
proper subjection his towering reason ; to 
cultivate peace, union, charity, with his fel- 
low-beings ; to entertain no false esteem of 
himself ; to prefer obscurity to fame, humil- 
ity to adulation, meekness to revenge, due 
mortification to unlawful indulgence ; to de- 
tach his affections from all that is perishable, 
and centre them in that which is immortal ; 
to regard death as merely a quiet shunber, 
and the grave as a sacred resting-place, 
whence he shall, at the appointed day, arise 
to sleep no more. 

'' The unbeliever has no fellowship with 
Jesus, who pronounces blessed the meek, 
the clean of heart, the pure in spirit, the 



Z E N O S I u s . 27 



merciful, and whose counsel is, that we should 
be perfect even as our heavenly Father is per- 
fect. Nor with Paul, who declares that the 
wrath of God is revealed against all impiety 
and injustice. Nor wdth James, who w^arns 
all sinners to cleanse their hands and purify 
their hearts ; and who exhorts them to turn 
their laughter into mourning, and their joy 
into sorrow, and to be humble and penitent 
in the sight of God. Nor with Peter, who 
commands us to be sober, and hope, per- 
fectly, for that grace which is offered at the 
revelation of Jesus Christ, as children of 
obedience, not conformed to the former de- 
sires of ignorance. Nor with John, who 
exclaims : We have seen, and do bear wit- 
ness, and declare unto you the eternal life 
which, was with the Father, and hath appear- 
ed unto us : God is Light, and in Him there 
is no darkness. Nor, in fine, with Jude, 
who cries out : Behold, the Lord cometh 
with thousands of his Saints to execute 
Judgment upon all, and to reprove the un- 



28 ZENOSIUS. 



godly of all the works of their impiety, 
whereby they have done impiously, and of 
all the hard things which sinners have spoken 
against God. 

" His fellowship, on the contrary, is with 
a Petronius, a Lucretius, an Ovid, a Julian, 
a Voltaire, a Rousseau, a Bayle : with men 
who, having thrown off all obedience to the 
Creator and his religion, gave themselves up, 
with unbridled license, to Error and Vice ; 
and who, when, as St. Paul remarks, they 
deemed themselves wise, became fools and 
hateful to God. Philosophers in name, in- 
deed, but enemies of wisdom, and workers 
of iniquity ; who, not having the justice of 
God, did not imderstand that they who do 
such things are worthy of death ; and not 
only they who do them, but they, also, who 
consent to them that do them. 

*' The effects of Infidelity, my son, have 
proved terribly fatal to society and the 
world. Hence the overthrow of govern- 
ments, the destruction of altars, the demoli- 



ZENOSIUS. 29 



tion of temples, the profanation of all that 
is most sacred and dear to country and re- 
Hgion. Hence the Gospel of Christ has been 
discarded and ridiculed, while books teem- 
ing with impiety have been substituted in 
its stead. Hence public morals have be- 
come relaxed, depraved — licentiousness un- 
bounded sways the world — the barriers of 
equity and right are thrown down — the pil- 
lars of the public w^eal are shaken— and 
universal confusion and anarchy prevail." 

'' Nevertheless, have not the principles of 
rehgious conviction always lingered in the 
human heart ?" asked Zenosius. 

'^ They have, my son," responded the 
Priest. ^' Its light might have been ob- 
scured, its torch might have shed but a faint 
and flickering ray, still it could not be alto- 
o-ether extincruished. And this remark ex- 
tends not only to the ancients, but, likewise, 
countless multitudes now removed afar 

3m the sacred i- -J. [e:ice of Faith. While 
.ue world is all biilhant, and its pleasures 



30 ZENOSIUS 



are fresh and fragrant ; while Fashion strews 
her flowers along the path of her giddy vo- 
taries ; while Youth, crowned with the chap- 
lets of life's fairest morning, and Health, 
decked in roses, sport away the stern con- 
victions of reason and reflection, religion is 
surrounded by no charms — 'the awful truths 
of the Gospel, the necessary dogmas of the 
church, occupy no portion of the mind's at- 
tention. The joys and glory prepared for 
the virtuous believer in the realms of im- 
mortality are destitute of the power of ap- 
preciation and value, while the sorrows and 
torments that await the impenitent and skep- 
tical in the abyss of perdition present no 
terror, and awaken no dread. But as the 
sun of life verges towards its decline, as the 
flowers of beauty and vanity decay in the 
spreading twilight of approaching death, 
then it is that the true efficacy of Faith is ex- 
perienced; — then does the troubled heart, the 
melancholy mind, seek a refuge — a safe and 
consolatory refuge — in the arms of Religion. 



ZENOSIUS. 31 

" The infidel cannot be happy : for, to him 
the essential constituents of happiness are 
wanting. He possesses neither present 
good, nor the hope of a future hfe. He does 
not tend to the summum. bonum~ihe infinite 
source and end of all bliss ; or entertain 
the least sentiment of gratitude — which 
should be expressed by prayer and adoration 
— to the Infinite Being, in whom he lives, 
moves, and has his existence. Chained 
down to the grovelling earth is that immortal 
spirit destined to soar on high to the realms 
of immortality ; deprived of its most glori- 
ous attributes ; shorn of its grandeur and 
beauty ; confounded among the dull and ma- 
terial things that perish. Upon the deep 
gloom that shrouds its prospects, the star of 
Hope cannot dawn. Hence, no balm for 
tlie wounded, broken heart ; no peace for 
the guilty and tormented conscience." 

'' Dreadful condition of the impious," ex- 
claimed Zenosius. '' Clearly now do I per- 
ceive and deeply feel, that in the sanctuary 



32 ZENOSIUS 



of Religion only can the wo-stricken heart 
find an asylum from misery and remorse." 

" True, my son," continued the Priest ; 
'^ on the bosom of faith — as on a pillow of 
heaven — can the aching brow of sorrow re- 
pose in peace. Hast thou ever considered 
the awful contrast between the man destitute 
of faith, and him who humbly believes, and 
sincerely fulfils, the doctrines and command- 
ments of God ? The former is lost, as it 
were, in the wilderness of life, without a 
solitary ray to guide or cheer his dreary pil- 
grimage. He may possess every worldly 
comfort — he may be rich, esteemed, hon- 
ored ; nevertheless, he feels in his soul a 
void which all the pleasures and honors of the 
world cannot fill up. The latter may be 
poor, may be neglected, may be despised 
below, and yet his heart and mind enjoy 
perpetual peace. For, they are fixed not on 
the corruptible things of this miserable life, 
but on the imperishable crown prepared for 
his brows in heaven — where his treasure 



Z E N S I u s . 33 



no man shall take from him ; where the rob- 
ber cannot enter; and where God himself shall 
be his exceedingly great reward. Thou, 
my son, hast been led to the path through 
w^hich this boon can be reached. Resolve 
to pursue it. This evening, and I will meet 



thee again." 



CHAPTER III. 

ZENOSIUS AT HOME THE TEARS OF EUTHALIA A 

STRUGGLE OF LOVE AND DUTY ZENOSIUS RE- 
TURNS TO THE BIAN OF GOD CATHOLIC FAITH 

\ 
ITS CHARACTERS — ITS NECESSITY ITS CONSOLA- 
TIONS. 

Do thou, then, breathe those thoughts into my mind, 
By which such Virtue may in me be bred, 
That in thy holy footsteps I may tread. 

Wordsworth. 

After this first interview with the learned 
and venerable Priest, Zenosius felt his mind 
greatly composed. The excitement w^hich 
sudden and violent transitions naturally ere- 



34 ZENOSIUS 



ate had subsided : and, with cahn and serious 
dehberation, he now determined to continue 
his study of the Cathohc church. Instead 
of returning immediately home, he wander- 
ed into the groves that shaded, with their 
dense fohage, the neighboring valley ; where, 
by the side of a ravine which precipitated 
itself, with no little violence, from the im- 
pending hills, he spent the remainder of the 
morning in reading and meditation. Several 
books of instruction, the w^orks of eminent 
Catholic divines, had been recommended to 
him, in which the doctrines, spirit, and econ- 
omy of the ancient Church were solidly 
and copiously explained. These, with the 
eager avidity of one yearning after truth and 
piety, he devoured, filled w^ith admiration 
at the treasure he had discovered, and as- 
tonished at his having lived so long without 
knowing and understanding its value. " I 
deemedmyselfwell-informed,yea, even learn- 
ed, in all other matters," he mused ; " how 
passing strange that I now find myself so 



ZENOSIUS. 35 



perfectly ignorant in this particular !" How 
many others, who, if they would conscien- 
tiously look into the matter, would wonder 
to find themselves in the same condition 
with this sincere and interesting convert ! 

On reaching home, he was met by his 
sister, a lovely girl just blooming into wo- 
manhood, but whose naturally guileless mind 
and ingenuous heart were, unfortunately, un- 
der the captivity of Sectarianism. Euthalia 
— this was her name — had observed a nota- 
ble change in her brother's appearance. She 
had seen, during some months previous, that 
he was agitated by strong impulses, and 
appeared in a state of mental perturbation. 
She had, in vain, endeavored to sooth him, 
now by sweet words, now by the kindest to- 
kens of sympathy and affection, and, in fine, 
by every means which the gentle love of a 
sister could devise for a noble and faultless 
brother. 

" Thou art more composed, Zenosius," — 
she accosted him with a tone of endearment 



36 Z E N S I II s 



— '' what cliangc has been effected, and by 
whose blessed power ?" 

*' The gloom hath passed away not only 
from mv brow, Euthalia, but, what is yet 
more consoling, from my heart," responded 
Zenosius. '' The light of heaven's own coun- 
tenance hath smiled upon me. The snare is 
broken, in which I w\'\s held in slavery, and 
I am free ! The sorrow that preyed upon 
my breast was occasioned by a two-fold 
cause. The one is entirely removed : and 
the other — oh ! t]iou canst remove it.'^ 

'" Speak what it may bo, brother," she 
exclaimed, embracing him with emotion, 
'' and though my life should — " 

'* Be not too precipitate, Euthalia,'' he in- 
terrupted her. 

'' Explain, Zenosius." 

" The first cause of grief was the sad cir- 
cumstance of my being entangled in the er- 
rors of Sectarianism — " 

" What ! errors ! — Sectarianism !" inco- 
herently and impassionately she cried. 



ZENOSIUS. 37 



" Soft, Eiithalia ; be not alarmed — be not 
overcome — hear me : the first was my own 
misfortune in being held fast by the toils of 
error; — and the second is, now — having 
broken through them myself — the dreadful 
thought that thou, thou, my only sister, art 
still their victim." 

During several minutes Euthalia was si- 
lent. Never was there a more violent and 
yet more quiet struggle in the breast of a 
gentle maiden, than in hers. She conquered, 
however : and reviving, as it were, from a 
sudden prostration of mind and body, she 
kissed Zenosius, wept, but said nothing. 
For, although thunderstruck at the change 
that had come over her brother's mind — al- 
though prejudice against the Catholic Church 
was identified v/ith her ideas of religion and 
piety — still Zenosius was the idol of her af- 
fections ; and she resolved never to allude 
to the subject which to him now seemed the 
consummation of happiness, but to her was 
a source of perennial aversion and alarm. 



38 ZENOSIUS 



Pity, in sooth — yea, and more than pity — 
that such pure and gentle hearts could be so 
lamentably imbued with the spirit of hos- 
tility to a Church which has raised woman 
from degradation to the highest acme of re- 
finement and honor. 

The evening now began to close upon the 
beautiful landscape that varied and adorned 
the surrounding country. Impatient for the 
enjoyment of a second conversation with 
the Priest, Zenosius, as had been arranged, 
repaired to the chapel. The man of God 
was awaiting his arrival, and joyfully greeted 
him back to these solitary retreats. 

*' If human science," he accosted him, 
" is said, with justice, to court silence, heav- 
enly science hath ever dwelt amid the noise- 
less recesses of the solitude. It is in remote 
scenes like this, my son, that contemplation 
muses in undisturbed serenity. The spirit 
of God is here — and his smallest whisper- 
ings can reach the listening ear of the soul." 

" Mine is open, venerable Father," re- 



ZENOSIUS. 39 



plied Zenosius ; " and if eagerness to drink 
in the copious draughts of celestial truth be 
a token of sincerity — " 

'' Thou art, indeed, sincere," added the 
Priest : " and, at this peaceful hour, v/hile 
the shadows from the hills are increasing as 
they fall, I will continue the thenme w^hich 
was left unfinished this morning. 

" Sectarianism — and in this word I in- 
clude all the denominations of Protestantism 
— cannot be agreeable to God, who is the 
essence of unity, and the perfection of con- 
sistency. If all the theories which human 
caprice has engendered under the appella- 
tion of religion, could be acceptable to 
Heaven, there would be no reason why we 
might not adopt, at pleasure, the systems of 
Mahommed, or Ali, as well as the law of 
Moses and the gospels of Jesus. In such 
a supposition, Venus might be adored under 
the grottoes of Ceilan ; Foe in the pagods of 
China ; or the Serpent in the barbarous 
temples of Malabar. The Brahmin in In- 



40 ZENOSIUS. 



dia, the Bonze e in Japan, and the Irnan in 
Persia, would have a paramount claim to 
the exercise of his superstitions : nor would 
it be of any material consequence, whether 
I should prostrate myself in prayer with the 
Dervis of Constantinople, adopt the novel- 
ties of Luther in Germany, or swerve from 
the doctrines and centre of Catholic ortho- 
doxy with the Church of England. 

*' Sectarian theories are all essentially dif- 
ferent ; consequently they cannot be equally 
true, or equally pleasing to God, who is 
eminently one, and whose eternal Oneness 
can sanction but one object of religion. 
But differing theories have different objects : 
the Theist acknowledges but a single God ; 
the Polytheist many deities. The Pantheist 
recognises a God whose nature is terrestrial 
— the Epicurean another whose characteris- 
tic attribute is stupidity. The true God has 
but one will — the revelation of which will 
is infallible truth : and of that revelation, as 
well as of the proper understanding and de- 



ZEN O SIUS. 41 



velopment of it, the Holy Roman Catholic 
Church is the only depository." 

*' In that blessed Church, as in a safe ha- 
ven after dreadful storms, have I found a 
refuge," said Zenosius. 

" It is safe," continued the Priest, " be- 
cause it is unchangeable. As God knov^s 
no mutation, so his church must be immuta- 
ble. There is no security, then, in the sys- 
tems of Germany, England, and the nations 
of the North, which were not known or 
dreamed of, some few centuries ago. They 
must, therefore, be innovations ; and I need 
not say in what capacity Luther, Calvin, and 
Henry VIII. are to be regarded." 

" To say the least, they cannot be ranked 
among the apostles of the primitive and im- 
mutable Church," observed Zenosius. 

" Of that Church," added the Priest, 
" which is and always has been true in her 
behef, holy in her morals, and perfect in her 
worship. By whose commandments every 
vice is condemned and proscribed, every 

— ■ 



42 ZENOSIUS 



virtue recommended and enforced : and 
whose obligations extend not only to the ex- 
ternal, but also to the internal ; affecting and 
governing the heart and soul, and producing 
a homage of both — the only homage that 
is acceptable to God, who must be served 
in spirit and in truth. 

** Highly important consequences are to 
be deduced from these fundamental princi- 
ples, which I pray thee, my son, to impress 
deeply upon thy memory. The first is, that 
if true Religion raises man to God, man 
cannot raise himself to the Eternal. There- 
fore true religion is the effect of divine 
grace, which ennobles a mortal being and 
unites him to his Creator. Secondly, Since 
religion comprehends the relations between 
men and the Deity, and the Deity is incom- 
prehensible, therefore religion must be a 
revelation emanating from Him who alone 
is acquainted with his own attributes, and with 
the nature and essence of the human race. 
Thirdly, Religion being an emanation from 



ZENOSIUS. 43 



God, it is not distinct from him. Fourthly, 
If rehgion be not distinct from God, rehgion 
can be but one ; and must be necessary, 
eternal, unbounded by space or time. Re- 
ligion is the Church : therefore the Church 
is identified with infinite wisdom, infinite 
power, infinite beneficence, infinite mercy, 
and omnipotence. She is the depository of 
true doctrine, the standard of celestial per- 
I fection, the basis of indefectible duration. 
" The necessity of believing in this church 
is evident from the fact, that her Divine 
Founder has made faith the first condition 
requisite for salvation : He that believeth 
shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be 
condemned} The characteristic, therefore, 
of a Christian is, that he be stamped with 
the seal of Faith ; that he believe in all the 
doctrines Christ has taught, and practise all 
the duties which he has prescribed. Hence 
the indispensable obhgation of all men to 
inquire after those doctrines — to try them- 

1 Mark, chap, xvi., v. 16. 



44 ZENOSIUS 



selves, according to the language of Saint 
Paul, if they he in the Faith.^ 

" Faith is the note by which the just man 
is distinguished from the impious : which 
imparts life to the former, and will rise in 
judgment against the latter. The just man 
liveth by faith, the Holy Ghost declares 
through the mouth of Saint Paul :^ and 
without faith it is impossible to please 
God:'^ 

** Thy explanation of this great subject is 
most satisfactory, Priest of Heaven," said 
Zenosius. " But may I hope, before it 
is concluded, to hear something touching 
the characters of true Faith ?" 

** Thou hast anticipated, my son, what I 
was on the point of adding," the Father re- 
plied. '' It is a study of high importance. 
It is a subject as inexhaustible as it is sublime 
and essential. Yes, the characters of Faith 
are such as can apply only to the Catholic — 
in no manner to the Protestant. The Cath- 

1 2 Cor. chap, xiii., v. 5. 2 Galat., chap, iii., v. 2. 3 Heb. xi., v. 2. 



ZENOSIUS. 45 



olic alone can make an act of faith. The 
Protestant cherishes merely opinions, which 
are as various as the minds that entertain 
them. Our creed depends not on opinions 
— has nothing to do with the caprices of the 
human mind. Our faith is solid, profound, 
and fruitful in good tvorks — which three 
characters I will now explain. 

" First, as regards the solid characters of 
faith, this arises from its not being of human 
origin, and, therefore, it is not such as could 
admit a shadow of doubt, or the least va- 
cillation of the mind. Because its founda- 
tion rests on the divine Word. 

" It should be here remarked, that our be- 
lief on the assertions of another depends 
upon two things : on the conviction that he 
is not deceived himself, and that he has too 
much integrity to deceive us. Hence we 
assent more satisfactorily to the authority of 
a learned man, than to that of an ignorant 
person : we rely more implicitly on the as- 
sertion of a virtuous, than of a vicious, indi- 



46 ZENOSIUS. 



vidual. According to these principles — 
which are universal and indisputable — it is 
manifest, that God is deserving of infinite 
faith ; of a belief — to make use of the ex- 
pression of Saint Augustine — worthy of 
Himself, For, being essentially Truth it- 
self, he cannot know things otherwise than 
they exist ; and being Goodness itself, he 
could not manifest them otherwise than he 
knows them to be. Therefore, we are infal- 
hbly secure from error, in believing his rev- 
elations." 

'' I see, with this view of the subject, the 
motives on which the Catholic establishes 
his faith," observed Zenosius. 

^' They are very different from those 
generally attributed to them," continued the 
Priest. *' We are Catholics, my son, not 
because w^e have been born in the bosom of 
the Church ; not because we have imbibed 
our convictions with our mothers' milk ; not 
because we are induced to believe by the 
example of those around us ; not because 



ZENOSIUS. 47 



we are persuaded by the zeal, and urged by 
the arguments, of the ministers of religion ; 
but the true motive is — or should be — be- 
cause God has revealed our faith to his 
Church, and, through the medium of that 
Church, to us." 

'' What, then, is the best reply a Catholic 
can make, when asked why he believes as 
he does ?" inquired Zenosius. 

'* The best and only reply to such a ques- 
tion is, because the Church, the infallible 
interpreter of the Word of God, has taught 
it, and demands my assent," responded the 
Priest. " Christ, the founder of that Church, 
communicated his mysteries and doctrines to 
the Apostles ; the Apostles transmitted them 
to the Church ; and the Church has de- 
livered them to us. So that, with a satisfac- 
tion which is able to allay every rising doubt, 
may we console ourselves with the words of 
Saint John : The only begotten Son ivho is 
in the bosom of the Father^ he hath de- 
clared} 1 John, chap, i., v. 18. 



48 ZENOSIUS. 



^' Under a grievous delusion, therefore, 
are those pretended wise men, who regard 
the system of Cathohc faith as a violence 
offered to the human intellect ; and who 
would fain prefer the taper-like flickering of 
natural science, to the deep and majestic ob- 
scurity in which the tenets of religion are 
shrouded." 

" Rash mortals !" exclaimed Zenosius ; 
'' in the vain conceit of knowing more than 
others, they only prove their own folly !" 

'' Yes," continued the Priest, " and while 
they flatter themselves that they are in the 
light, darkness, in efl'ect, encompasses their 
path. Whereas, from the deep cloud, in 
which our Faith, like our God, hath made 
its dwelling-place, there emanates a lustre 
which displays the knoAvledge of heavenly 
things, while it discloses the grounds on 
which that knowledge reposes. 

" The Catholic, then, not only believes — 
but, unlike all Sectarians, believes without a 
doubt, with much peace, and supernatural 



Z E N O S I u s , 49 



consolation. In the language of Saint Paul : 
He is filled ivith all joy and peace in be^ 
lieving.^^^ 

'' The truth of this I now experience, 
since I have burst the trammels of Secta- 
rianism," said Zenosius. 

'^ Nowhere, save in the bosom of the 
Mother-Church, can a sincere Christian re- 
pose, my son. Because his rest is not 
broken by any anxiety or solicitude : for his 
faith, as I have shown, is solid. It is, more- 
over, profound. That is to say, it is not 
superficial, or obscure, or confused ; neither 
is it of a too inquisitive or curious character. 
In sailing between the dangerous shoals, of 
examining the nature of faith without ven- 
turing to plunge into its abysses, we require 
a supernatural pilot. We must be guided 
by Reason on one side, {rationahile ohse- 
quium,) and by Humility on the other. We 
must not presume to interrogate onr Divine 
Legislator, like the Pharisees of old, and 

1 1 Rom. chap, xv., v. 13. 



50 ZENOSIUSv 



daringly inquire : how is this ! how can it 
be ! Faith is the boon of the simple-hearted, 
not of the arrogant and vain. 

'' But, on the other hand. Catholic faith 
does not fetter the intellect, or chain the 
faculties of reason. No : that intellect may 
have full scope, it may and should reflect, 
compare, and, in some degree, judge. Rea- 
son, too, although it will never be able to 
comprehend the mysteries in which the dog- 
mas of religion are enveloped, will, never- 
theless, acquiesce in them, and adore the 
supreme majesty of their author, whose be- 
ing is infinitely above the capacity and un- 
derstanding of mortal man." 

" Is a Catholic bound to know all the 
mysteries of Religion ?" asked Zenosius. 

'' He should make himself acquainted 
with the principal mysteries of faith," re- 
phed the Priest ; " those, for instance, con- 
tained in the Creed ; and especially the 
Trinity and the Incarnation. That in the 
Godhead there are three persons, each per- 



ZENOSIUS. 51 

fectly distinct, and yet all forming but one 
and the same Eternal Being. That the 
second person assumed the nature of man, 
was conceived by the Holy Ghost, and born 
of the Virgin Mary : and uniting one person 
in two distinct natures, offered himself a vic- 
tim, on the Cross of Calvary, for the salva- 
tion of the human race. Now this is eter- 
nal life, exclaimed the Redeemer himself 
through Saint John, that they may know 
thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ 
whom thou hast sent^^ 

'' And yet, how many are there who pro- 
fess to know God, and know him not !" 
sighed Zenosius. '' Like myself, ere Heav- 
en's mercy was extended to my erring mind, 
they are ignorant of his Church, and of the 
true spirit of religion which animates its 
body." 

" Too many, Zenosius, fall under the aw- 
ful rebuke uttered against the Hebrew peo- 
ple by the mouth of the prophet Isaiah," 

1 Chap, xvii., v. 3. 



52 z E N o s I u s . 



responded the Priest : '' The ox hath known 
his owner, and the ass his master's crib, 
but Israel hath not known me, and my 
people hath not understood} Alas ! what 
avails all other knowledge, if man is igno- 
rant of that way which leads to Truth and 
Life ! What boots it to be able to scan the 
firmament of Heaven, to plunge into the 
depths of Nature, to measure the expanse 
of the Universe, to descend into the cham- 
bers of Ocean and explore his hidden treas- 
ures — of w^hat value, I ask, my son, are all 
these sciences^ if we be ignorant of our 
Creator, and of his sovereign will ? And yet 
thousands devote their talents and their re- 
searches to those human studies ; and so few 
to the only true wisdom — of finding out and 
fulfilling the Almighty's will — that the pro- 
phet Osee, excited by a holy indignation, did 
not hesitate to exclaim : There is no knowl- 
edge of God in the land? 

" Besides these two characters of Cath- 

1 Chap, i., V. 3. 2 Chap, iv., v. 1. 



ZENOSIUS. 53 



olic faith, there remains another, which is 
produced and preserved by them. I mean 
that of fecundity. True faith must be fruit- 
ful. Like the moon shining through the 
night, and imparting a salutary influence to 
the earth, it enlightens the darkness of the 
Mind, and sheds a holy energy upon the 
Will. It is not merely a theoretic, but a 
practical, virtue. Faith, writes Saint Paul, 
which worketh through charity} Without 
this working, faith is void, and cannot claim 
the divine appellation ; in the language of 
Saint James, it is dead? 

'' True faith, like a good tree, proves it- 
self by its fruits : it regulates the whole 
conduct of man, inspires him with a love of 
God ; a horror of sin ; a purity of inten- 
tion and action ; strict justice in his relations 
with his fellow-beings ; disinterested views ; 
genuine charity ; sincerity, sobriety, mag- 
nanimity, prudence, hospitality, compassion, 
and all the other virtues that adorn and sanc- 

l Galat., chap, v., v. 6. 2 Chap, ii., v. 17. 

5* 



54 ZENOSIUS. 

tify the Christian. Of this character alone 
is that faith which will secure our salvation : 
any other, instead of being useful, will only 
add a deeper dye to our guilt, and a deadlier 
wo to our sentence on the judgment-day. 
I know you not ! will be the terrible reply 
of the Judge of the living and the dead, to 
the vain professions and ostentatious declara- 
tions of those who content themselves with 
crying out, Loi^d ! Lord ! They may re- 
hearse their deeds of human benevolence 
and human virtue — the hungry they had 
fed, the naked they had clothed, from worldly 
motives — but after all their pompous expos- 
tulations will be thundered forth this woful 
anathema : Depart from me, I know you not 
whence you are} For, destitute of those su- 
pernatural virtues, humihty and fear of God, 
the fruits of practical faith, no matter what 
else they may have to offer in their commen- 
dation, they will not be recognised as the 
followers of Him, who will be satisfied with 

1 Luke, chap, xiii., v. 25. 



ZENOSIUS. 55 



nothing less than the heart. In the language 
of Ezechiel, They will descend into Hell loitli 
their weapons} The arms which are taken 
on the jfield of battle are reputed the most 
glorious trophies, the richest spoils, that can 
be exposed amid the ovation of victory. 
And nothing v^ill contribute more to the dis- 
grace of the wretched Christian, and the in- 
fernal triumph of the enemy of his soul, 
than to fall into their hands with all his arms 
about him. Those arms with which he 
might have conquered ! This is the vic- 
tory which overcometh the world — our 
faith? 

'' Let these truths take a due hold of thy 
convictions, my son. By the grace of Him 
whose ways are inscrutable, thou hast been 
called into the pale of the true Church — 
the Church which, has discarded from her 
holy communion all Schismatics and Secta- 
rians ; and back to whose arms — the arms 
of a pitying and forgiving mother — so many 

1 Ezech., chap, xxxii., v. 27. 2 i Ep. St. John, chap, v., v. 4. 



56 ZENOSIUS. 



are daily returning, especially from the ranks 
of Episcopalianism. 

'' It is now late. Over the spire of the 
chapel, see the placid moon is shining, in 
whose silvery beams glistens the rood of 
salvation. Hie thee homeward." And he 
placed a sealed letter in his hands. 

'' Yea, venerable Father," said Zenosius, 
thanking him as his dearest benefactor — 
^*but permit me, if it be only for one short 
minute, to throw myself again at the foot 
of the altar, ere I quit these sacred pre- 
cincts." 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE SOLITARY MEDITATION THE PRAYER THE 

JUBILEE OF A CONVERTED AND BELIEVING HEART. 

The fetters of my tongue do thou unbind, 
That I may have the power to sing of thee. 

Wordsworth. 

He bends, in adoration, near the tabernacle. 
See him alone, covered from the view of the 



ZENOSIUS. 57 



world, while one only lamp burns palely- 
over the sanctuary. There is no eye upon 
hinn — the sohtary, the heavenward-rapt con- 
vert — save the eye of God. There he pours 
out afresh the deep streams of compunction 
and thanks. What a change ! What pen- 
cil can depict it ? What tongue can tell it ? 
Lo ! the effects of divine grace, which hath 
wrought a wondrous, an almost miraculous 
contrast, between Zenosius a Protestant, 
and Zenosius a Catholic. In the profound 
chambers of his own heart he muses, he 
meditates, he prays intensely : '' Having at 
last, by Heaven's propitious favor," these 
were his sentiments, '' formed a correct idea 
of faith, and been introduced into the Holy 
Catholic Church, it is my duty now to act 
according to its spirit, and be governed by 
its maxims. The faith I have received, is 
the faith of God} It emanates from God, 
as from its eternal principle, and tends back 
to him, as to its ultimate consummation. A 

1 1 Thessal., ehap. i., v. 8. 



58 Z E N O S I u s . 



divine faith — fruitful in its character — pro- 
ducing good works that will be acceptable 
to Him from whom it derives its mysterious 
efficacy. In contemplating the physical 
world, I behold, under the influence of the 
sunbeams — a merely natural light spread 
over the surface of creation — the herbs shoot- 
ing forth in green luxuriance, the flowers blos- 
soming and shedding their sweetness on the 
air, the fruit ripening amid the sweet foliage of 
the parent tree. Howbeautiful to the contem- 
plative eye, how instructive to the reasonable 
mind, this spectacle in Nature ! And will it 
be said, that my soul, enlightened, invigor- 
ated, enriched by the supernatural light of 
faith, would produce nothing, present naught 
to the eye of Heaven — no prospect which 
it might smile on, no flowers of virtue, reli- 
gion, repentance, no fruits of prayer, medi- 
tation, self-denial, humility ! Shall it be 
that the soul can lie desolate and barren — like 
the rock in the ocean, on which the day- 
beam wastes itself away, while it is forever 



Z E N S I u s . 59 



lashed and chafed by the lempesl's surge ! 
No ; I will prove myself — with the aid of 
God, who has brought me into the admira- 
ble light of truth — worthy of the unspeaka- 
ble favor. But yet not in myself, not in my 
own frail energies, do I put my trust. No, my 
God ! in thee is my confidence, and I shall 
not be confounded ! Through thy mercy I 
liave acquired that gift, which, of my own 
endeavors, I could not have obtained. Hu- 
man efforts could not achieve the victory, 
which faith requires, over the mind, the in- 
tellect, the will perverse, and the propensi- 
ties uncurbed. Much less could human 
nature exercise the duties prescribed by su- 
pernatural faith. From thee, O Almighty 
Master of the heart and mind of man, must 
proceed the light necessary to guide us on- 
ward to the Church, the energy necessary 
to enter into its portals, the grace suificient 
to comply with all its requirements. I im- 
plore thee to extend thy hand to me : my 
heart is before thee — thou knowest its past 



60 ZENOSIUS 



sorrows, pains, and guilt. In the presence 
of this thy tabernacle, I dedicate it to thy 
service ; its sorrows will be solaced, its 
pains sweetened, and its guilt pardoned." 

That last interview with the venerable 
Priest, and this last visit to the rural chapel, 
were never effaced from the memory of Ze- 
nosius. On the contrary, both were im- 
pressed with ever-ardent affection upon his 
heart. Some days later, he indulged his 
holy reminiscences in the following lines : 

The lamp burns lonely o'er the shrine : 
Sweet flowers upon the altar blush : 

Oh ! what a privilege is mine — 
Not to approach the burning bush, 

But near the tabernacle bend, 

Where Christ still loves me to the end. 

Saviour, who on the tragic eve 

Of that dark day that saw thee die. 

Didst deign thy flesh and blood to leave — 
Blest food of immortality — 

I own thy presence and thy power, 

And hail the rapture of this hour ! 



ZENOSIUS. 61 



Oh ! the touch'd heart repentant yearns,- 
With holy prayer and longing vows, 

For thee — who, when the Son returns 
Kissest the care-drops from his brows 

Receive me back — so long astray. 

And banish all despair away. 

Here, at this still and twilight shrine, 
My firm resolve do I renew : 

Make all my future being thine — 
And graces o'er my pathway strew. 

This earth no longer charms, for me — 

There is no beauty, but in thee. 

Burn on, then, lone but watchful light ; 

Thy never-dying vigils keep : 
Oh ! praise the Lord by day and night. 

When earth is busy or asleep : 
And all ye blossoms, breathe to heaven 
Your odorous thanks for me — forgiven ! 



62 ZENOSIUS. 



CHAPTER y. 

PROTESTANT INCONSISTENCIES THE BRILLIANT AP- 
PARITION ZENOSIUS MUST LEAVE HIS NATIVE 

LAND HE MUST SEE ROME. 

" I must see Rome, also." 

Acts, chap, xix., v. 21. 

Zenosius was eager to peruse the letter, 
which, at the moment of parting, the Priest 
— his devoted instructor — had put into his 
hands. Retiring to his Kbrary, where he 
was wont to pore, for long continuous hours, 
over his books, he opened the pages and 
read the following contents : 

" My son, the more firmly to ground thy 
convictions in the faith of the ancient Ro- 
man Catholic Church, I have deemed it 
proper to call thy attention to the inconsist- 
encies of Protestantism ; which I have com- 
prised in this note, and upon which I advise 
thee, in thy leisure moments, carefully to 
reflect. 
*' The first is, that Protestantism now adopts 



ZENOSIUS. 63 



the name which it once held in horror — 
that of Catholic. It separated from the 
ancient, universal religion, and designated 
its members by the appellation which well 
becomes them, that of Protestants, They 
acknowledged, in the first instance, that they 
were mere Protesters against what existed 
universally before them : now they affect 
the ancient title, and would fain turn us into 
a protesting community — thus inverting the 
original order, and thrusting themselves be- 
fore the nineteenth century as Catholic^ 
when in the sixteenth, that name was visited 
with vengeance by the dominant power of 
the English Church. Catholic, forsooth ! 
what pretension can they have to the prerog- 
ative which that word implies ? When the 
Reformation was but a germ in the heart of 
Luther— who stood alone against the whole 
world, as he himself boasted — where was 
their Cathohcity ? How could their sect be 
everywhere, when it was confined to the 
apostate monk of Wurtemberg and a few of 



64 z E i^ s I u s 



his ever-wrangling disciples ? Even v/hen 
it penetrated into England, how could it be 
considered Catholic, when it w^as not spread 
entirely over the surface of that small island ? 
No, it is an inconsistency of a most palpa- 
ble nature to style Protestantism Catholic. 
Catholic Protestantism is an anomaly. The 
terms contradict each other — when referred 
to doctrines of Christianity. For, evidently, 
that which protests against certain dogmas 
recognised, even now, by a majority of Chris- 
tians, cannot be Catholic: much less, in- 
finitely less, was it so in the origin of the 
schism which tore them off, as a useless 
branch, from the great trunk of the tree of 
orthodoxy : and the legitimate branches of 
that tree are not only deprived of their un- 
alienable and glorious title by Sectarians, 
but are taunted with the ridiculous soubri- 
quet of Romanists, Papists, &c. But still 
the artifice is as little successful, at the pres- 
ent time, as it was in the age of Saint Au- 
gustine, when, as he testifies, the same was 



ZENOSIUS. 65 



practised. For, let a stranger inquire for 
the Catholic Church, in any city, and even 
Protestants themselves would point not to 
their own temples, but to that where the al- 
tar and sacrifice are to be witnessed. The 
cross peering above the surrounding houses, 
proclaims the temple of God, and the grim 
statue of the Patron-saint, standing like a time- 
worn sentinel in the outward niche, indicates 
the faith of those who venerate and invoke 
the blessed spirits in Heaven. Here Peter 
presides. And ' whosoever is attached to 
Peter,' once exclaimed St. Jerome, ' to him 
do I adhere.' 

" The second inconsistency is, that they 
separated from the ancient Church on ac- 
count of doctrines which they now admit. 
The great ground of erecting a reformed 
religion was the dogma of indulgences. This 
was the font and origin, the fons et origo of 
their complaint. Not the abuses, but the 
dogma itself. But, this mighty objection is 
now done away with : and after thousands 



66 ZENOSIUS 



of the rigid reformists — that is to say, the 
deadly enemies of CathoHcism — have labor- 
ed, by writing immense folios, to show the 
superstition and irreligion of indulgences, 
the organs of Protestantism, with incredible 
inconsistency, are not, now, unwilling to admit 
them in their primitive acceptation and legiti- 
mate use, while they declaim, with very httle 
Christian spirit, against their monstrous con- 
sequences. Why, then, did not the first re- 
formers confine themselves to the task of 
remedying abuses ? If the dogma was not 
improper in itself, it was their duty not to de- 
stroy it because it might be abused, but to 
provide, as far as possible, that the passions 
of men should not exert their baleful influ- 
ence on divine institutions/ 

1 The following is the language of the " Churchman," in the 
number for Friday, the first of May, some few years ago : " a 
doctrine (purgatory as defined by the Council of Trent) not re- 
pugnant to reason, agreeable to antiquity, and believed to be 
countenanced in Scripture and recognised in the liturgy of the 
Church," &c. Again, concerning the invocation of saints : *' Be- 
cause the Church of England asserts that there is but one me- 
diator of redemption^ does she deny that all the members of 
Christ's body . . . may be mediators of mterce5S2ow?"— And still 



Z E N S I u s . 67 



'^ The third inconsistency is, that they once 
rejected some of our doctrines by misrepre- 
senting them — now they represent them 
properly, and adopt them as their own. For 
instance, the veneration paid to the crucifix 
and Scriptural representations, not to say 
any thing of the saints. There was a time 
when crosses were levelled to the ground — 
steeples were hurled down because adorned 
with the image of the crucified one — sanc- 
tuaries were rifled and profaned, on the same 
account ; and why ? because they said the 
cross was an emblem of popery, a sign of 
idolatry, and not to be exposed in public 
places. Now the cross is seen looming on 
the spires of Protestant churches. Their 
altars, as they style them, are decorated with 
it — and Protestant bishops do not hesitate to 
keep that once-deemed idolatrous image in 
their libraries and studies : nay, in a neighbor- 
ing town, to erect it on the roof of a dwell- 

against this idolatry, the Church of England has entered her 
protest ! 



68 ZENOSIUS. 



ing, to designate it as the sacred mansion of 
a dignitary of the Episcopal Church. More- 
over, they have rejected the invocation of 
saints, and still they retain their festivals in 
the reformed calendar. Hence we find that 
a bishop of that denomination is to confer 
the rite of confirmation in one church on the 
festival of St. Peter ; in another, of St. 
Paul ; in a third, of St. John the Evangelist. 
And I v^ould humbly suggest to the Right 
Reverend Prelate, that those festivals are 
much more appropriate for the confirmation 
of his flock, than Good-Friday ! — a day of 
mourning and lamentation in the ancient 
Church. 

'' The fourth inconsistency is their contra- 
dictions among themselves. The very dis- 
tinction betv^een High and Low Church is 
sufiicient to indicate the existence of such 
contradictions. Some adhere to the ancient 
school of Jeremy Taylor, Dr. Montague, 
Archbishop Laud, &c. Others reject them 
as savoring too strongly of popery, and 



ZENOSIUS. 69 



cleave to the more independent theology of 
modern polemics. And this not in merely- 
secondary matters, but in dogmas the most 
grave and important. And divines thus dis- 
agreeing in matters of faith are, nevertheless, 
recognised by the same bishops, exchange 
pulpits, and administer the communion to 
the people. What, then, becomes of unity ? 
and without unity, what is Christianity ? 
Certainly the opinions of some Churchmen 
are toto ccelo different from those of many 
others ; and the creed of the Bishop of one 
diocess is by no means in accordance with 
that of another Prelate. And yet all are Epis- 
copalians — all members and Doctors of the 
same Church — all perfectly united when 
there is a question of opposing the religion 
from which their ancestors severed them- 
selves, three hundred years ago. It were 
useless, after what has been said, to al- 
lude to the Oxford tracts, which by some 
theologians of the Episcopal Church are 
regarded as heretical, and by others de- 

6 



70 ZENOSIUS 



fended as orthodox. Among Catholics 
there are no such dogmatical contradic- 
tions. 

'' The sixth inconsistency is their affecta- 
tion of ancient orthodoxy — their pretended 
reverence for the testimony of the Fathers — 
and, at the same time, acknowledging that 
they began in the sixteenth century in oppo- 
sition to the doctrines which their forefathers 
had handed down to that era ; and boasting, 
through their coryphaeus, Martin Luther, 
that they cared not a fig for Augustine or 
Jerome ! The confessions of the former 
testify to the customs of his age, and vindi- 
cate the sanctity of the mass which he of- 
fered for his deceased mother Monica. And 
the latter expounds the sacred Scriptures 
which he translated into Latin very dif- 
ferently from the Protestants who now 
claim the Fathers as their ow^n ! 

" The seventh inconsistency is their ad- 
mitting the authority of the Council of Nice 
— and adopting the Athanasian creed, on the 



ZENOSIUS. 71 

subject of the Trinity, — a council which was 
held under the acknowledged supremacy of 
the Pope, and they cast aside, with contempt, 
the authority of that of Trent, which was 
convoked, celebrated, and brought to a hap- 
py termination, by the same power. Uni- 
tarianism is far more consistent in rejecting 
the one and the other. For, the divinity of 
Christ was vindicated by the decision of the 
former ; although the Arians w^ere as unwil- 
ling to receive it, as Protestants are to be 
governed by the decrees of the latter. At 
that period, when the whole world was agi- 
tated and divided by the controversy concern- 
ing the consuhstantiality of the Son with the 
Father, the tribunal of a general council was 
the suprema lex : but when Lutheranism and 
all its impious consequences were spreading 
desolation over the Christian world, a general 
council was nothing — no tribunal whatever 
— in their estimation. 

'' The eighth inconsistency is, that they 
reject infallibility, and, nevertheless, con- 



72 ZENOSIUS. 



sider no religious communion orthodox but 
their own. What right have they to con- 
demn the Cathohc Church, when, by their 
own concession, they may possibly be in 
error ? They anathematize all Sectarians — ^ 
and all Sectarians, in their turn, hurl back 
the anathema, with as much ground of au- 
thority as they possess. If they are not 
infallibly certain that the Pope is not the 
visible head of the Church, that transubstan- 
tiation is an error, that auricular confession 
is a superstition — then, it is possible that all 
these dogmas, against which they so boldly 
protest, may be true. The Catholic behoves 
them to be true. He, surely, has as much 
reason to adhere to his belief, as the Epis- 
copalian has to reject it : and, as according 
to the doctrine of the latter, there is no tri- 
bunal on earth competent to pronounce in- 
fallibly on the disputed question, it must 
necessarily be referred to the tribunal of 
God in the day of judgment. But why does 
he, under these circumstances, take upon 



ZENOSIUS. 73 



himself to protest against what may possibly 
not be false ? Why does he charge us with 
the vilest and blackest errors, because we 
refuse to resign what may possibly be found 
true ? I contend that the Episcopalian, act- 
ing up to the acknowledged principles of his 
Church, has no right to express any thing 
but an opinion : he can only say, I think I 
am in possession of truth ; I think others 
are not. And merely able to think or imagine 
— for he dares not say that he is infallibly 
certain of any tenet — he is guilty of a pal- 
pable inconsistency, besides a breach of 
common Christian charity, when he not only 
attacks our creed and our priesthood, but has 
the presumption to misrepresent and de- 
nounce the one, and heedlessly to insult the 
other. 

*' The ninth inconsistency is, their finding 
fault with us for styling ourselves Roman, 
while they designate themselves as Eng- 
lish : we belong to the Roman Catholic, 
they to the English Protestant, Church. 



74 ZENOSIUS. 



And because the centre of our unity is 
where St. Peter established it, and where it 
existed ages before this continent was dis- 
covered, they accuse us of being subject to 
a foreign Head, and rank us among the ene- 
mies of civil and religious hberty. But thpy 
do not, in the mean while, choose to re- 
member, that their xxxix articles were de- 
creed by a British Parliament, and that, in 
consequence of the American Revolution, 
which gave Independence to our glorious 
Republic, bishops of the cis-Atlantic Eng- 
lish Church were not, until very recently, 
allowed to preach or officiate on the other 
side of the water. They were thus virtually 
cut off from the Anglican communion : and, 
rejected from that body, and protesting 
against ours, where was their Catholicity 
then ? But, it seems, a compromise has 
since been graciously made ; and the good 
Episcopalians of the United States claim to 
belong to the Church of England, just (in 
a general way, however) as the Catholics 



ZENOSIUS. 75 



belong to that of Rome. I say only in a 
general way — for, while they persevere in 
retaining the name, they, by no means, sub- 
mit to the dogmatical decisions of the Par- 
liament, which, however, originally professed 
to be the source of all Protestant orthodoxy. 
Whereas, we, having no connection what- 
ever with Rome in its temporal government, 
rehgiously adhere to the ecclesiastical or 
spiritual jurisdiction which it legitimately 
exercises throughout the universal world. In 
this sense we are Roman Catholics : a title 
of which the early Fathers were not ashamed. 
'' The tenth inconsistency is, that they de- 
rived orders from our Church — and now 
disclaim her power as schismatical. Either 
that Church, before the Reformation, was 
true, or it was false. If true, then all sepa- 
ration from her pale is unjustifiable and anti- 
scriptural : if false, then they received or- 
ders from a false Church ; and — all these 
orders emanating from Rome — if Rome had 
not the authority to confer them, then there 



76 Z E N O S I u s 



are no orders in the Protestant Church. 
Augustine, the apostle of England, derived 
his mission and orders immediately from the 
Pope. Besides, he was a monk. The suc- 
cession of Bishops was kept up, after him, 
until the days of Henry VIII. Therefore, 
if the Episcopal Church has orders, it is in- 
debted for them to that see, to which, in a 
spiritual sense, we continue, and shall ever 
continue, to be subject. While Protestants 
have broken asunder the chain, and have 
fallen into the depths, to say the least of it, 
of doubt, uncertainty, and darkness, with 
regard to the most important of all points — 
valid ordination. 

'' Lastly, they profess the charity of Christ, 
and are, nevertheless, bitter enemies of their 
fellow Christians. This is a serious charge 
— a grievous inconsistency : but, the writ- 
ings of their ministers, and the spirit of 
their pulpits, sufficiently support and evince 
the fact. The desks of their Churches, 
which ought to be devoted to the instruction 



ZENOSIUS. 77 



of their people — the inculcation of morality, 
and the defence of truth — are, with scarcely 
an exception, converted into rostra of flip- 
pant declamation, and unwarrantable attacks 
upon the character of our religion and its 
priesthood. The Editors, too, of Journals 
* devoted to the interests of the gospel and 
the Church,' appear to imagine that those 
interests are advanced by the violation of 
all charity, and the prostration of all good 
breeding.^ 

1 There are papers so vulgar and insignificant, that no sensi- 
ble or well-bred man would regard any thing which appears in 
their columns: but the organ of Episcopalianism in New York 
bears upon its name a character of respectability, and Christian 
decorum. And, yet, I venture to assert — and the assertion will 
be proved from facts — that the charity of Christ, which should 
embrace all individuals if it cannot cover all creeds, was never 
more set at naught than in the passage I shall now cite from the 
"Churchman" in the number above referred to. It must, how- 
ever, in justice, be remarked, that the tone of that journal has 
recently undergone a singular change. But it has not retracted 
its past misrepresentations. 

"The authorized teaching of the Church of Rome has never 
been, in the eyes of enlightened Protestants, the great objection 
to her communion. On the contrary, they have complained, and 
with reason, of her systematic craft and treachery, in keeping her 
authorized teaching as ground to fall back upon in controversy, 
and yet sustaining in practice a system of corruption and abuse, 
to which her authorized teaching, however exceptionable, aifords 

•7* 



78 ZENOSITTS. 



**0n this subject, I am loath to comment. 
We are assaulted with such astounding char- 
ges, couched, too, in such infuriated lan- 
guage, that a calmly-thinking and well-dis- 
posed mind could hardly believe it possible 
for the tongue of a minister of the gospel of 
charity to give expression to them. The re- 
ligion of an a Kempis and a Xavier — of a 
Fenelon and a Bossuet — of a Sir Thomas 
More, a Fisher, a Friar Bacon — of innumer- 
able saints and worthies of the past and the 
present; a religion which preserved the doc- 
trines of Christ during so many ages — which 
sent its missionaries into every part of the 

but little support. It is thus that Roman Priests (lor we speak 
not of her laity) show their lubricity in argunient. If the known 
corruptions of their Church — corruptions that have driven from 
her the most enlightened portion of Europe, and have shaken 
Christendom to its centre — and the infamous opinions of her di- 
vines — opinions that have extenuated and abetted every species 
of iniquity in Church and state — are assailed, they disclaim all, 
and indignantly demand to be judged by the authorized formu- 
laries of their Church : and if their opponent follows them thither, 
he finds a living hody, which, but lor a mouth full of curses, 
would present no very frightful exterior, and which shows scarce 
a trace of the ligaments that bind to its back the loathsome corpse 
of corruption. The living body is Catholicism, the loathsome 
corpse is Popery." 



ZENOSIUS. 79 



world, and spread abroad the light and bless- 
ings of Christianity and civilization — a reli- 
gion, which checked the headlong course of 
Mahommedanism and barbarism, during the 
middle ages — a religion now professed by the 
most powerful and illustrious monarchs, as 
well as the most enlightened people in all 
climes — this religion accused of shaking 
Christendom to her foundations on account 
of the infamous opinions of her divines — her 
own innate and overgrown corruptions — this 
religion the parent of every species of iniqui- 
ty ! this religion a monster ! with a mouth 
full of curses — and a loathsome corpse of 
corimption hound to its hack ! Really, such 
gross and revolting charges must raise a 
blush on the cheek of every thinking and in- 
genuous Protestant. Catholics are amazed. 
And when, in a paroxysm of controversy, 
Editors and Preachers, forgetful of common 
sense as well as common decency, rave, at 
random, against a church and its doctrines, 
of which they know nothing, and which they 



80 ZENOSIUS. 



will not condescend to study, they excite the 
contempt of all liberal men, of every de- 
nomination ; while the Catholic, in witness- 
ing all this unchristianlike manoeuvring, is 
more and more convinced of the inconsis- 
tencies of Protestantism, and the uncharita- 
ble dispositions of many of its ministers. 

*' Error should, certainly, be combated : 
but not with the arms of the flesh : not with 
impetuous abuse, not with passionate de- 
clamation against one another. If the Pro- 
testant believes our faith erroneous, let him 
confine himself to argument, to solid reason- 
ing, to scriptural authority : but in all let 
him beware lest he violate charity, lohich 
speaketh not evil. The Catholic, though 
stimulated by violent provocation, though 
confident of possessing the truth, is infinitely 
more tolerant and forbearing than his ene- 
mies. He stands on the defensive merely : 
and, in not one case out of a thousand, does 
he ever make an offensive attack, either in 
his pulpit or his journals, upon any denomi- 



ZENOSIUS. 81 



nation. And, in condemning and refuting 
error, he will always be careful not to hurl 
his dLYidLthemasdigamsl any individual, whether 
heretic or Jew. Error is an odious object. 
The persons of men are sacred and dear to 
all in the sight of faith. But Protestant- 
ism, viewed in the example given by not a 
few of its leaders, would fain sweep from 
the earth, with the besom of destruction, 
imaginary error, and all men, no matter 
how sincere and good, professing that error. 
They alone have a right to judge — they 
alone can claim the truth. And their re- 
ligion alone has been productive of no mis- 
chief, and of every blessing — while that of 
the vast majority of Christians is the scourge 
of the world, and fit only to be thrust, 
with the apocalyptic dragon, into the deep 
abyss." 

While engaged in meditating on these 
strange inconsistencies of Protestantism, he 
heard a voice : *' Zenosius !" 

On turning to the direction frqm which it 



82 ZENOSIUS 



proceeded, his eye fell, once more, upon his 
heavenly guide, Eirene, who stood near, bril- 
liant and lovely in light and smiles. 

" Hail, angel of peace !" rising on his 
feet, with emotion, he exclaimed. 

** Be calm — sit thee down, Zenosius : I 
come to deliver to thee the will of God, 
which must be still farther accomplished. 
Thus far, thou hast done well — thou hast 
been faithful to the inspirations and graces 
of the Most High, and tell me, art not thou 
a changed being ? Hath not thy soul tasted, 
for the first time, some drops of that balm 
of Elysium, which is never permitted to fall 
upon the parched and withered soul of the 
impious and unjust ? Those first drops are, 
indeed, delicious, but what are they com- 
pared with the torrents of delight which are 
yet in store for thee ?" 

'' Am I, then, to be more happy ?" asked 
Zenosius. 

*' Thou art to be so ; but, like the son of 
Thare, of yore, thou must leave the land 



ZENOSIUS. 83 



of thy nativity, and go forth from the midst 
of thy kindred and friends. And as Paul, 
in the mid-career of his apostleship, de- 
clared, that he, too, must see Rome,^ so is it 
ordained, in the eternal designs of Provi- 
dence, that thy pilgrimage must not cease, 
until thou shalt have obtained the blessing 
of the Vicar of Christ, at the shrine of the 
Apostles." 

" I am ready," said Zenosius, resolutely ; 
" when must I depart ?" 

'' Forthwith," replied Eirene, — and disap- 
peared. 

1 Acts, chap. xix. v. 21. 



84 ZENOSIUS 



CHAPTER VL 



THE HEART-RENDING SEPARATION THE FADING CROSS 

THE FAREWELL THE LAST LETTER. 



The broad sun 



Is sinking down in its tranquillity : 
Dear child I dear happy girl ! if thou appear 
Heedless — untouch'd with awe or serious thought, 
Thy nature is not, therefore, less divine. 

Wordsworth. 

No time was lost. It is the decree of 
Heaven, that the pilgrim must, incontinently, 
quit the sweet and familiar scenes of home, 
must tear himself from every natural tie — 
even from his only sister Euthalia, — and 
hasten onward to the goal of his spiritual 
career. Euthalia ! oh, with what harrowing 
grief will she not be pierced, in being torn 
— for the first time — from that brother to 
whom her young heart clung ; and know- 
ing, meanwhile, whither he was tending with 
irresistible rapidity. Gentle girl ! little doth 
her mind see into the mysterious future ! — 
a future pregnant with wondrous designs, 



ZENQSIUS. 85 



fraught with the workings of a divine power, 
which, as yet, she dreams not of^ much less 
foresees ! 

" Thou ait resolved to leave me, then, 
Zenosius ; me — " her voice sank and was 
choked amid her sobs, while tears burst, in 
torrents, from her eyes. 

Zenosius wept. The pure fountains of 
nature are not dried up by the influence of 
grace. No, no ; they are rendered sacred. 
Tears as they flow from the Christian soul 
are truer and holier than the sorrows of 
the unresigned and unbelieving. His tears 
sparkled with a brother's love, while they 
were chastened and made more sacred by 
the love of God. 

" Euthalia," he firmly said, '' to say thou 
art the dearest object to my heart on earth, 
would be but a common-place avowal — well, 
well thou knowest it From our childhood's 
earliest morn, have we cherished the wreaths 
of aff'ection which then we wove out of the 
sweetest and freshest blossoms of love — 



86 ZENOSIUS 



our hearts have been and were but one : 
they glowed with the same aspirations, they 
throbbed with the same pulsations of joy or 
grief. To leave thee — " the struggle be- 
tween nature and grace became so violent in 
his breast, that he could not continue. 

'' Leave me !" exclaimed Euthalia ; '' this, 
indeed, of itself, might be borne with. But 
to go, to sever thyself from the shrine of 
our fathers creed — " 

'' Enough, Euthalia ; but if thou lovest a 
devoted, a parting brother, make me one 
promise." 

'' I promise, I promise," she passionately 
returned, clasping him in her arms. 

" Thou rememberest the declaration of 
Christ : Every one that hath left house, or 
brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother , . . 
for my name^s sake, shall receive a hun- 
dred-fold, and shall possess life everlasting} 
It is for his name, that I make the sacrifice. 
Take this letter, and after I shall have been 

1 Matth., chap. xix. v. 29. 



ZENOSIUS. 87 



launched on the deep, open it, read it, and 
comply with my last request." 

Euthalia pressed the letter to her bosom, 
and, overcome with excitement, withdrew to 
give vent, in private, to her anguish. 

The ordeal was now over. Zenosius has 
triumphed over himself, and over the most 
powerful antagonist of the human heart. 

The hour for his departure is here. The 
ship in whose care he is to peril the tem- 
pestuous ocean, hoists her magnificent sails, 
and glides, as though buoyant with life, 
down the broad and beauteous bay. Grad- 
ually fades from his vision the vast and pop- 
ulous metropolis. The highest spires shrink 
in the dim distance, until they appear like so 
many undefined lines in the misty horizon. 

As Zenosius stood musing on the pros- 
pect — agitated with human feeling, and yet 
sustained and soothed by heavenly aid — the 
last object which he could descry, as the 
sun went down, was the glittering cross upon 
the giddy steeple. On others the same glo- 



88 ZENOSIUS 



rious emblem had peered to the sight, but 
distance now veiled them in cloud ; for they 
were smaller, and not half so elevated. Stead- 
fastly did he rivet his gaze upon it, with an 
expression, at one time, of delight, and, then 
again, of pensive meditation. Delight, to 
perceive the noble city crowned with the 
Saviour's cross; and pensiveness, to reflect 
that not only the churches of the ancient 
faith, which but recently were distinguished 
by that '^ sign," now owned the veneration 
it deserved, but those of sectarian creeds, 
repentant of their past disrespect, and ato- 
ning for having been ashamed of the glory 
of Christianity, have reared it on the summit 
of their proudest monuments, " A strong 
and consoling proof," he mused, " of the 
Cathohc Church. For, Protestantism began 
its work of profanation in England by throw- 
ing down the cross, which Protestantism, 
three hundred years later, is raising up again. 
The enemy of the ancient Church, conse- 
quently, ack-nowledges that she was right 



Z E N S I u s . 89 



in preserving that cross ; and if she was 
right in that particular, so was she, also, in 
every other regarding doctrine and morals." 
As Zenosius was losing sight of the land, 
he sang his farewell in these strains : 

^' The hills of my native land grow dim, 

The mist is gathering o'er them ; 
The breezes are raising their ocean-hymn, 

And the ship exults before them. 
Whither ! oh whither am I bomid, 
x\drift to-night on the seas profound ! 

" The angel of God my way will guide 
Through the dark and stormy waters ; 
He will waft me where truth and peace abide — 

Religion's mystic daughters. 
Oh ! in their tents my heart will repose, 
And my spirit forget the world's cares and woes. 

" There glimmers afar on the barren coast, 
A light from the lonely tower ; 
Thus the light of hope, when needed most, 

Will beam on my darkest hour. 
Father Almighty ! beneath thy care, 
On land or on ocean, why need I fear !" 
_ 



90 E E N S I U S , 



'' He is, then^ really gone— Zenosius, my 
dear, my only brother;" thus sighed Eu- 
thalia, as she opened the letter which he 
had left, as a sweet legacy, behind. " Well, 
whatever may be his sad delusion in this 
case, in the breast of mortal never beat a 
truer, fonder heart than his ; never was the 
human soul animated by purer motives or 
by nobler impulses. Perhaps, when on the 
spot to w^hich his enthusiasm has driven 
him, his mind may change : and what he 
now deems may be the term of his aspira- 
tions, peradventure may prove the contrary. 
Yet, Heaven protect my brother — ' Ro- 
manisf or Protestant, he will be my dear 
Zenosius still !" 

As the tears coursed, in showers, down 
her cheeks, she read its contents : 

" Euthalia, from our cradle, through in- 
fancy and childhood, up to this day, we 
have been trained and educated together. 
No pains have been spared to open to our 



ZE N O SIU S. 91 



minds the richest stores of knowledge : we 
have drunk together at the font of Hehcon, 
and have culled not a few flowers from Par- 
nassus' groves. But, alas ! — although thy 
pure heart hath not yet learned to acknow- 
ledge what mine hath felt and feels, — the 
waters of religious instruction, in which 
our souls were bathed, issued not from the 
source of truth ; were mixed and sullied with 
the sediment of human passion and error. 
The fountains of Protestantism flow from 
broken cisterns, always gushing forth, but 
wasting themselves away upon the mind and 
heart. They have been turned aside from 
their original direction ; from that which 
was traced out by the finger of the Church's 
founder ; and are, therefore, no longer any 
portion of those ivaters that spring up unto 
life eternal. 

" I am aware, Euthalia, how^ unpalatable 
to thy soul this declaration will prove. The 
time is not long past, when mine would have 
shrunk from it with no less repugnance than 



92 ZENOSIUS 



thine. But Heaven hath taught me better : 
the divine Hght of truth hath shone around 
me — the voice of Jesus Avhom I persecuted 
hath spoken to my heart — and no longer can 
I close my eyes to that light, or seal my 
ears to that voice. For a time, indeed, I 
struggled against conviction. I flattered 
myself that Providence, having placed me 
in my position, v^ould not immediately re- 
quire me to abandon it. I felt all the sacri- 
fice that the change would demand. Upon 
my troubled mind, in formidable confusion, 
rushed a thousand obstacles — my pride, my 
associations, my family — thou, Euthalia, 

thou But then, the terrible monition of 

Him who alone is to be dreaded — for He 
can cast both body and soul into Gehenna 
— thundered upon my memory, and startled 
my sluggish conscience : He that loveth 
father or mother more than ?ne, is not wor- 
thy of me} 

*' Resolved, at any sacrifice, to disenthrall 

I Matth., chap. x. v. 37. 



ZENOSIUS. 93 



myself from the toils of error and human 
respect, I went, as directed, to the Priest 
of the village, whose paternal sympathy 
soothed my melancholy spirits, and whose 
zeal and instruction opened to me the por- 
tals of the venerable Catholic Church. I am 
now at rest. No more doubts harass my 
mind, no more clouds hang over my path, 
no more solicitude preys upon my con- 
science. I have learned God's will ; and in 
conformity with his inspiration, I am on my 
pilgrimage to the eternal city, amid whose 
consecrated scenes I will catch, I trust, the 
spirit of the hallowed past, become imbued 
with the influences of the sacred present, 
and prepare the necessary viaticum for the 
awful future. 

" Euthalia, thou hast made a promise — 
and while the foaming surges are dashing 
about the frail ship on the high deeps, it 
will be my sweetest solace to know that 
thou wilt comply with it faithfully. Go 
then, gentle sister, go,. Euthalia, to the man 



94 ZENOSIUS 



of God, the Priest of the village-chapel — 
converse w^ith liim, hear his voice, and listen 
to the language of truth and wisdom which 
he will address to thy candid heart. This 
is all I ask — this is the last wish of thy ten- 
der and loving brother." 



CHAPTER YII. 

ZENOSIUS IN THE CAPITAL OF ENGLAND THE GE- 
NIUS OF ST. Paul's — the genius of Westmin- 
ster ABBEY. 

Oft have I seen, ere time had plough'd my cheek, 

Matrons and sires — who, punctual to the call 

Of their loved Church, on fast and festival 

Through the long year, the House of Prayer would seek. 

I see the places where they once were known, 

And ask, surrounded even by kneeling crowds, 

Is ANCIENT PIETY for cvcr flown 1 

Wordsworth. 

Weeks passed, and Zenosius reached the 
capital of the English empire. Straightway 
he wandered towards the famed citadel of 



ZENOSIUS. 95 



Protestantism — the abortive imitation of the 
wonder of the Christian world — and found 
himself near St. Paul's. His eye fixed it- 
self upon the statue of the first female head 
of the English Church, (a presumptuous 
and arrogant title, he thought, which Eliza- 
beth claimed,) presiding, in colossal dimen- 
sions, over the churchyard. And, while intent 
upon profound considerations on the schis- 
matical pretensions of the Church of Eng- 
land, and the fatal consequences that have 
followed from the misnamed Reformation, 
the Genius of Protestantism, issuing from 
the massive portals of the temple, stood by 
his side. The figure of this being was not 
bright, his countenance seemed sad and de- 
jected, and he sighed heavily. In his shriv- 
elled hand he held a few links of a broken 
chain. At his feet a roll of parchment, still 
red with blood, was partly disclosed, on 
which a catalogue of numberless martyrs 
of the ancient faith was written — at the head 
of which stood Fisher and Sir Thomas 



•96 Z E N S I u s 



More. Other documents were strewn about 
him, containing penal laws : and Zenosius 
caught, by accident — for the Genius sought 
to conceal it with a blush — the name of 
Poor Ireland. 

Zenosius, summoning courage, accosted 
the apparition : ^' Who art thou ?" 

" The Genius of this place," he answered 
in a half-suppressed tone. 

" How long since thou hast held domin- 
ion here ?" 

'* Ever since this magnificent cathedral — 
the pride of Protestantism — was erected." 

" Three hundred years ago," uttered Ze- 
nosius, laying a lengthened emphasis upon 
every word. 

" Yes, three eventful centuries." 

" And before that epoch, where wast 
thou ?" 

'^ I then acquired my existence; ere then, 
neither St. Paul's nor I had being. Never- 
theless, think not that Romanism swayed 
the ancient Saxons. No, they were Protes- 



ZENOSIUS. 97 



taut ; and from that Protestant ancestry the 
bishops of England have derived their suc- 
cession. I hold in my hand the sacred 
chain — " 

'^ It is broken," retorted Zenosius. 

*^ Thou art, then, a Ro7nanist, stranger." 

''By the grace of God, a Catholic," he 
firmly answered ; ''an unworthy convert 
from schism and error to the old Church 
of Rome : but no Romanist. ^^^ 

" Thou, too, gone over — ^where will this 
calamity end !" exclaimed the Genius. " Al- 
ready hundreds of the best and wisest have 
forsaken St. Paul's, to kneel before the 



1 Formerly Papist was the soubriquet of the faithful child of 
the Church. English Protestantism adopted this vulgar term 
from the coarse and violent Protestantism of Martin Luther. 
Puseyism has, lately, modified the nickname into Romanist; 
claiming for itself, of course, the glory of Catholicity, and repu- 
diating the appellation of Protestant, it stamps us with the lo- 
cal characteristic of Romanists : as though we were not under 
the dominion of the oecumenical visible Church of Christ, but 
merely of a schismatical branch of it, over which the Pope exer- 
cises a limited sway at Rome ! To' all their pretensions we 
reply in the words of Tertullian, (Be Prcescriptionibus, cap. 36 :) 
" Si Italiam adjaces, habes Romam, unde nobis quoque auctoritas 
presto est— ubi Petrus passioni Dominicae adsequatur." 



98 ZENOSIUS 



altars of St. Peter's — " and, in an instant, 
he vanished. 

Zenosius approached the door, and sur- 
veyed the interior of the church — a vast, but 
deserted pile. White walls, naked and neg- 
lected — statues of philosophers, statesmen, 
and poets — but no altar, no emblems of faith, 
no characters of a House of God, could his 
earnest view^ discover. *' This material edi- 
fice," he thought, '' is a perfect representa- 
tion of the Church of England — without 
priests, sacrifice, religious memorials, or 
apostolic worship — " and he bent his way 
to Westminster Abbey. 

When he reached this venerable relic of 
Cathohc times, the mid-day sun was shining 
upon its hoary turrets and battlements. It 
frowned, in antique majesty, solemn, reli- 
gious, and grand, surrounded by the fragile 
edifices of modern days. '^ Sacred monu- 
ment of blessed ages !" exclaimed Zenosius, 
*' erected by the munificence and art of Cath- 
olic England, and spared by the fury of rapine 



ZENOSIUS. 99 

and destruction, to stand, in the desert of 
degenerate years, a pillar to mark the glory 
of the past. That sun of heaven which now 
streams through these stained glasses, has 
during many a century — even before the 
Reformation — illumined its dim aisles and 
awful vaults." 

Musing thus, with sacred respect, he en- 
tered its fretted gates ; when, from the chap- 
el of the seventh Henry, crowned with a 
halo of streaming light, bearing the crucifix 
in one hand, while the other grasped a chain 
that hung from heaven, issued the Genius 
of the Abbey. Zenosius fell upon his knees. 

" Fear not," the Genius mildly said ; — 
" since the foundation of this monastery 
have I dwelt here. Once, ere this land had 
been tainted with most fatal errors, the ab- 
bots, and knights, and monarchs, who lie 
under these lone and silent monuments, wor- 
shipped in these chapels, according to the 
rites of the ancient Catholic Church. Then 
the altars, which have since been removed, 



100 ZENOSIUS 



smoked with incense, and gleamed with 
hghts, while the mibloody sacrifice was of- 
fered. That sacrifice hath here ceased. Cold 
and formal services — as strange to the manes 
of the old dead, as they are spiritless to the 
generation that now witnesses them — have 
been forced into these desecrated walls. 
The grim statues that lie stretched upon the 
stone — mailed, crowned, or mitred — seem to 
look sad at the change that hath come over 
the Abbey, where they chose to be interred, 
that the Requiescat in pace might be forever 
repeated over their tombs, and the mass of 
requiem offered for their souls." 

" Why dost thou continue to abide amid 
such desecration ?" asked Zenosius. 

" God hath so willed," he returned. 

" Perhaps his wisdom may have yet some 
mighty object in view. Time, as he drives 
on his years, destroys, it is true ; but occa- 
sionally fills up again the void left in his 
rapid course. Who can tell — " 

*' I am here to watch over the sarcophagi 



ZENOSIUS. 101 



of the Catholic dead : and to witness, long 
ere their resurrection, that of the Cathohc 
Church again in England, where she hath 
found a temporary tomb. As on the primi- 
tive martyrs, the sword of persecution fell 
fatally on her — and this Abbey, erst her 
splendid trophy, is now her vasty mauso- 
leum. But it will not always be thus. The 
sorrows of Hell cannot hold her, nor can she 
see corruption. The morning-star of her 
resurrection begins to dawn — the orient on 
high is breaking with beautiful vistas of 
promise and hope." 

" May they soon be realized," sighed Ze- 
nosius. '' But recently, and her extermina- 
tion would have been to my soul as joyful a 
triumph as are now her glorious anticipa- 
tions. And my own loved country! — " 

" Thou art then among the many who 
have thrown aside the spiritual cerements, 
and burst into the light and life of faith ?" 
asked the Genius, exultingly. 

" I am." 



9* 



102 ZENOSIUS 



" Happy youth ! — and comest thou from 
afar?" 

" From beyond the broad Atlantic seas, 
under the guidance of heaven, my journey 
hath been, and here my pilgrimage hath but 
commenced. After pondering over the mon- 
uments of England's blessed ages, (for from 
England my own ancestors have sprung,) 
and contrasting her present isolated posi- 
tion v^ith that which she held when in com- 
munion with the universal Church, to Rome 
must I wend my way." 

" In Rome — in the faith, the discipline, 
the worship, of old Rome — thou wilt blend 
with the holy and the faithful of all past 
ages. Go in peace." And the Genius dis- 
appeared. 



ZENOSIUS. 103 



CHAPTER VIII. 

ZENOSIUS MUSING, LIKE MINUTIUS FELIX, ON THE 

SEASHORE ANOTHER WONDERFUL INSTRUCTOR 

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH THE CHURCH OF 
THE ANGLO-SAXONS. 



O venerable Bede ! 



The saint, the scholar, from a circle freed 

Of toil stupendous, in a hallow'd seat 

Of learning, where thou heard'st the billows beat 

On a wild coast, rough monitors to feed 

Perpetual industry. Sublime Recluse ! 

The recreant soul that dares to shun the debt 

Imposed on human kind, must first forget 

Thy diligence, thy unrelaxing use 

Of a long life, and in the hour of death, 

The last dear service of thy passing breath. 

Wordsworth. 

Zenosius, having visited the principal 
monuments of that island, vv^hich, in days 
of old, v/as SO eminently Catholic, but v^hich 
now groaned under the numberless woes of 
schism and sectarianism that pressed her 
down, chanced to stray along the solitary 
seashore. The winds were high, and the 
billows rolled their foamy crests against the 



104 Z E jS O S I u s 



desolate beach. Night was coming on — 
when an aged personage passed nigh, and 
inquired " whether he was not a stranger in 
these parts ?" 

" From a very great distance — even be- 
yond the seas," rephed Zenosius. '' Pray, 
who mayest thou be ?" 

" A plain clergyman, on an errand of du- 
ty. A poor fisherman lies ill upon yon crag, 
and I have been to minister to his departing 
spirit." 

'' A clergyman — of w^hat church ? can I 
be permitted to inquire ?" 

^' Of the Church of ancient England, which 
was planted in our island by the successors 
of the apostles, and whose doctrines and 
discipline are, despite the revolutions of 
ages, preserved inviolate and entire." 

Zenosius seized his hand, and thanked 
God for having thrown in his way so favor- 
able a means of pursuing his investigations 
into the history of the primitive Church of 
England. 



Z ENOS lU s. 105 



*' Heaven hath sent thee to me, revered 
minister of truth," said Zcnosius. '' I am a 
new, but grateful, member of that venerable 
Church — a convert — " 

" (lod bless thee, young stranger. My 
home is not far off— come, spend this stormy 
night under my roof, and, perhaps, I may be 
able to afford thee some instruction with re- 
gard to thy important researches." 

Zenosius, remarking, that this interview 
resembled that of Minutius Felix and Coe- 
cihus of yore, cheerfully accepted the invi- 
tation, and accompanied his reverend guide. 
The presbytery was situated on an emi- 
nence, from which the ocean stretched into 
boundless distance. The sun had already 
gone down into its fathomless chambers, and 
the stars glittered— infinite in number, and 
intense in lustre — over the deep. 

'' A new theory has, of late, been invent- 
ed," the Clergyman remarked, '' by which 
the modern Churchmen of the established 
rehgion endeavor to justify their schismati- 



106 ZENOSIUS. 



cal position. They have laid claim to the 
title of Catholic, and pretend that their creed 
was the creed of England, before Romanism 
overspread the island. And they have gone 
so far as to declare, that we, and not they, 
are the schismatics. That we have sepa- 
rated from the primitive Apostolic Church, 
not they. Now, in order to test this matter, 
I will deem our evening well filled up, by 
examining the records of history, and by 
contrasting the tenets believed and practised 
by our Saxon fathers, with the novelties and 
protestantism introduced by the Reforma- 
tion." 

" A most useful inquiry," said Zenosius ; 
" the very point which I have long desired 
to have an opportunity of thoroughly study- 
ing." 

" It should be premised, that Christianity 
was introduced into England first under 
Pope Eleutherius, in the second century — 
and again under Gregory the Great. She 
owes her conversion, therefore, from idola- 



ZENOSIUS. 107 



try and barbarism to Christianity and civili- 
zation, to the Popes. From the missionaries 
who came from Rome she learned the doc- 
trines of Rome ; which doctrines were iden- 
tified with Christianity — constituted, in fact, 
the essence of Christianity. And, conse- 
quently, tiie Reformation, by throwing off 
those doctrines of Rome, materially affected 
the very substance of Christianity. Let us 
see what those doctrines were. 

** First, the Supremacy of the Pope. From 
the history of the Evangelists we learn that, 
among the companions of Jesus, Peter was 
particularly distinguished by his heavenly 
Master. That precedency of honor and ju- 
risdiction, which has been denied to him 
by the skepticism of modern polemics, was 
readily conceded by the more docile piety 
of our ancestors : whose sentiments are 
plainly and forcibly recorded in the works 
of their most celebrated writers. * The 
prince of th^ Apostles, the shepherd of all 
believing nations, the head of the chosen 



108 ZENOSIUS 



flock, and the first pastor of the Church,' 
are the titles by which they commonly de- 
scribe him : and to him they are careful to 
attribute, as a ' peculiar privilege, the power 
to bind, and the monarchy to loose in heaven 
and on earth.' Nor did they conceive the 
dignity which he enjoyed, to have expired at 
his death. The same motives, to which was 
owing its original estabhshment, pleaded for 
its continuance ; and the high prerogatives 
of Peter were believed to descend to the 
most remote of his successors. The bishop 
of Rome was pronounced to be ' the first of 
Christian bishops ; the church of Rome, the 
head of all Christian churches.' 

" Impressed with these notions, the An- 
glo-Saxons looked up to the Pontiff with 
awe and reverence ; consulted him respect- 
ing the administration of their church ; and 
bowed in respectful silence to his decisions. 
His benediction they courted as the choicest 
of blessings: and to obtain it, w^as one of 
the principal motives which drew^ so many 



ZENOSIUS. 109 



pilgrims to the threshold of the Vatican. 
No less than eight Saxon kings, besides 
crowds of noblemen and prelates, are re- 
corded to have paid their homage in person 
to the representative of St. Peter : and those 
who were deterred by reasons of policy, or 
the dangers of the journey, were yet careful 
to solicit by their ambassadors, and to de- 
serve by their presents, the papal bene- 
diction. Highly as they prized his friend- 
ship, so they feared his enmity. The dread 
of his resentment struck terror into the 
breasts of the most impious : and the threat 
of his malediction was the last and strongest 
rampart which weakness could oppose to 
the rapacity of power. The clergy of each 
church, the monks of each convent, sought 
to shelter themselves under his protection : 
and the most potent monarchs, sensible that 
their authority was confined within the nar- 
row limits of their own lives, solicited, in 
favor of their rehgious foundations, the in- 
terference of a power, whose influence was 

_ 



1 10 Z E N S I U S. 



believed to extend to the most distant ages. 
Of the bulls issued at their request by dif- 
ferent popes, several have descended to pos- 
terity, and are conceived in terms the best 
calculated to strike with religious awe the 
minds of those who are predisposed to re- 
ceive such impressions. In them the Pon- 
tiff usually asserts the authority which he 
exercises as successor to the prince of the 
Apostles ; separates from the connnunion 
of the faithful the violators of his charters ; 
and threatens their contumacy with the pun- 
ishments that befell Datlian, and Abiron, and 
Judas, the betrayer of the Lord. 

'* Secondly, Seven SifcnuNmfs. The re- 
ligion of the Anglo-Saxons was not a dry 
and lifeless code of morality. A spiritual 
worship, unincumbered with ritual obser- 
vances, has been recommended by pliiloso- 
phers, as the most worthy of man, and the 
least unworthy of God : but experience has 
shown, that no system of belief can long 
maintain its influence over the mind, unless 



ZEN O SI us. Ill 

it be aided by external ceremonies, which 
may seize the attention, elevate the hopes, 
and console the sorrows of its professors. 
Among our ancestors, religion constantly in- 
terested herself in the welfare of her chil- 
dren : she took them by the hand at the 
opening, she conducted them with the care 
of a parent, to the close of life. 1. The in- 
fant, within thirty days from his birth, was 
regenerated in the waters of baptism. As a 
descendant of Adam, he had inherited that 
malediction, which the parent of the human 
race had entailed on all his posterity. To 
cleanse him from this stain, he was carried 
to the sacred font, and interrogated by the 
minister of religion, whether he would re- 
nounce the devil, his works, and his pomps, 
and would profess the true faith of Christ. 
The answer was returned by the mouth of 
his sponsor ; he was plunged into the water ; 
the mysterious words were pronounced ; and 
he emerged, a member of the church, a 
child of God, and heir to the bliss of heaven. 



112 ZENOSIUS 



2. As he advanced in age, the neophyte was 
admitted to participate of the celestial sacri- 
fice. In the eucharist he received the body 
and blood of his Redeemer : and the mystic 
union bound him to his duty by stronger 
ties, and gave him a new pledge of future 
happiness. 3. Should, however, his. pas- 
sions seduce him from the fidelity, which 
he had solemnly vowed to observe, penance 
still offered an asylum, where he might shel- 
ter himself from the anger, and regain the 
favor of his Creator. These were ' styled 
the three great sacraments, by which the 
souls of men were purified from the guilt 
of sin : there remained four others, which, 
though of inferior necessity, were considered 
as highly useful to the Christian, amid the 
dangers to which he was exposed in his pil- 
grimage through life. 4. At an early period 
he was presented to the bishop, and, by the 
imposition of his hands, received the spirit 
of wisdom and fortitude, to direct and sup- 
port him in the combat with his ghostly en- 



ZE N S lU S. 113 



emies. 5. If his inclination led him to the 
ecclesiastical state, the sacred rite of ordi- 
nation imparted the graces which were ne- 
cessary for the faithful discharge of the 
clerical function. 6. If he preferred the 
bond of marriage, his marriage was sancti- 
fied by the prayers of the Church, and the 
nuptial benediction. 7. But the bed of death 
was the scene in which the religion of the 
Anglo-Saxons appeared in her fairest form, 
attended with all her consolations, the friend 
and the guardian of man. At that moment, 
when every temporal blessing slips from the 
grasp of its possessor, the minister of Christ 
approached the expiring sinner ; awakened 
his hopes by displaying the infinite mercy 
of the Redeemer ; listened with an ear of 
pity to the history of his transgressions ; 
taught him to bewail his past misconduct ; 
and, in the name of the Almighty, absolved 
him from his sins. As the fatal moment 
drew nigh, the extreme miction prepared his 
soul to wrestle for the last time with the 



10* 



I — ' 

114 ZENOSIUS 



enemies of his salvation. The directions of 
St. James were rehgiously observed : the 
prayer of faith was read over the dying 
man ; and his body was anointed with con- 
secrated oil. To conclude the solemn cere- 
mony, the eucharist was administered, as a 
viaticum or provision for his journey to a 
better world. Thus consoled and animated, 
he was taught to resign himself to the will 
of his Creator, and to await with patience 
the stroke of dissolution. 

'' Thirdly, Mass in the Latin tongue. 
Both the mass and the canonical service 
were performed in Latin. For the instruc- 
tion of the people, the epistle and gospel 
were read, and the sermon was delivered in 
their native tongue : but God was always 
addressed by the ministers of religion in the 
language of Rome. The missionaries, who, 
from whatever country they came, had been 
accustomed to this rite from their infancy, 
would have deemed it a degradation of the 
sacrifice, to subject it to the caprice and va- 



ZENOSIUS. 115 



nations of a barbarous idiom ; and their dis- 
ciples, who felt not the thirst of innovation, 
were proud to tread in the footsteps of their 
teachers. The practice has been severely 
reprobated by the reformed theologians : but 
it was fortunate for mankind, that the apos- 
tles of the northern nations were less wise 
than their modern critics. Had they adopt- 
ed in the liturgy the language of their prose- 
lytes, the literature would probably have 
perished with the empire of Rome. By 
preserving the use of the Latin tongue, they 
imposed on the clergy the necessity of study, 
kept alive the spirit of improvement, and 
transmitted to future generations the wri- 
tings of the classics, and the monuments of 
profane and ecclesiastical history. 

" Fourthly, Invocation of Saints. Among 
those who claimed the peculiar veneration 
of the Anglo-Saxons, a high pre-eminence 
was given to the virgin mother of the Mes- 
siah. That her influence with her Son was 
unrivalled, might be justly inferred from her 



116 ZENOSIUS 



maternal dignity ; and the honors which were 
paid to her memory, had been sanctioned by 
her own prediction. Her praises were smig 
by the Saxon poets ; by their preachers her 
prerogatives were extolled ; and the princi- 
pal incidents of her hfe were commemorated 
by the four solemn festivals of the nativity, 
the annmiciation, the purification, and the 
assumption. After the Virgin, the next rank 
was occupied by St. Peter. The belief that 
he had been raised to the dignity of prince 
of the Apostles, and that to his custody was 
intrusted the keys of the kingdom of hea- 
ven, was deeply impressed on their minds, 
and strongly influenced their conduct. Cler- 
gy and laity were equally solicitous to se- 
cure his patronage. Altars and churches 
were dedicated to his memory ; pilgrimages 
were made to his tomb ; and presents were 
annually transmitted to the church which 
had been enriched with his earthly remains. 
Particular honors were also paid to the saints, 
Gregory and Augustine. To the charitable 



ZENOSIUS. 117 



zeal of the former, and the laborious exer- 
tions of the latter, the Anglo-Saxons were 
principally indebted for their conversion to 
Christianity : the affection which these prel- 
ates had formerly testified for the natives, 
could not be extinguished by their removal 
to a better world : they were, therefore, re- 
vered as the patrons of England ; their fes- 
tivals were celebrated with extraordinary 
solemnity, and the aid of their intercession 
was confidently implored. Equally prompt- 
ed by hope and gratitude, each particular 
nation honored the memory of its apostle ; 
and the bishops Aidan, Birinus, and Fehx, 
were severally venerated as the protectors 
of the countries which had been the theatres 
of their piety, their labors, and their suc- 
cess. 

'' Fifthly, Festivals, ' The festivals of the 
saints,' observes an Anglo-Saxon manuscript, 
' are established, that we may obtain the 
benefit of their prayers, and be excited to 
the imitation of their virtues.' These were 



118 ZENOSIUS 



the great objects of the veneration which 
our ancestors paid to departed sanctity. But 
in the creed of modern historians, to of- 
fer any species of rehgious honor to a crea- 
ted being, is a deadly act of idolatry. When 
they contemplate the Saxon invoking the 
patronage of the saints, their piety is, or af- 
fects to be, alarmed : and they exclaim, in 
the language of horror and indignation, that 
the v^orship of the Deity was supplanted by 
the worship of his creatures. But a short 
acquaintance with ancient literature will 
prove, that our ancestors were too well in- 
structed, to confound man with God. They 
knew how to discriminate between the ado- 
ration due to the Supreme Being, and the 
honors which might be claimed by the most 
holy among his servants : and while they 
worshipped him as the author of every bless- 
ing, they paid no other respect to them, than 
what was owing to those whom they consid- 
ered as his favorites, and their advocates. 
Whoever shall attentively peruse the works 



ZENOSIUS. 119 



of the Saxon writers, or the acts of the Sax- 
on councils, from the era of their conversion, 
to what is deemed the darkest period of their 
history, will observe this important distinc- 
tion accurately marked, and constantly in- 
culcated. When the poet sang the praises 
of his patron, he sought neither to interest 
his mercy, nor deprecate his justice : to ob- 
tain the assistance of his intercession, to be 
remembered by him at the throne of the 
Almighty, was the sole object of his peti- 
tion. If the preacher from the pulpit ex- 
horted his hearers to solicit the prayers of 
their more holy brethren, he was careful to 
inculcate, that they should adore God alone, 
as their true Lord and true God. If the 
Christian, when he rose from his bed, was 
accustomed to beg the protection of the 
saints, he was yet commanded in the first 
place, to worship with bended knees the 
majesty of his Creator. These distinctions 
were too easy to be mistaken. The idea of 
intercession necessarily includes that of de- 



120 ZENOSIUS. 



pendence : and to employ the mediation of 
his favorites, is to acknowledge the superior 
excellency of the Deity. 

" Sixthly, Veneration of Relics. With the 
invocation of the saints is naturally connected 
the veneration of their remains. The man 
v^ho had been taught to respect their virtues 
and to inaplore their patronage, v^ould not 
hesitate to honor their ashes with a decent 
monument, and with a distinguished place 
in the assembly of the faithful. In the book 
of the apocalypse, the martyrs are repre- 
sented as reposing beneath the altar ; and, 
before the death of its author, we behold the 
Christians of Rome offering the sacred mys- 
teries on the tombs of the holy apostles Pe- 
ter and Paul. When the martyr Ignatius 
had been devoured by the wild beasts of the 
amphitheatre, the fragments of his bones 
were collected by his disciples, and carefully 
conveyed to the capital of the east, where 
the Christians received them as an invalua- 
ble treasure, and deposited them with honor 



Z E N S lUS. 121 



in the place appropriated to the divine wor- 
ship. Succeeding generations inherited the 
sentiments of their fathers : the veneration 
of rehcs w^as diffused as far as the know^- 
ledge of the gospel ; and their presence was 
universally deemed requisite for the canoni- 
cal dedication of a church or an altar. With 
this view, Gregory the Great, as soon as he 
heard of the success of the missionaries, 
was careful to send them a supply of relics ; 
and scarce a pilgrim returned from Gaul or 
Italy, who had not procured, by entreaty or 
purchase, a portion of the remains of some 
saint or martyr. But the poverty of the 
Saxon church was quickly relieved by the 
virtues of her children ; and England be- 
came a soil fertile in saints. Scarcely was 
there a monastery that did not possess one 
or more of these favorites of heaven : their 
bodies lay richly entombed in the vicinity of 
the principal altar ; and arovmd were sus- 
pended the votive offerings of the multitudes 

who had experienced the efficacy of their 

_ 



122 ZENOSIUS. 



intercession. In the hour of distress or dan- 
ger, the afflicted votary threw himself at the 
foot of the shrine with an avowal of his un- 
worthiness, but expressed an humble confi- 
dence that the Almighty would not refuse to 
the merits of the patron, what he might just- 
ly deny to the demerits of the suppliant. 
Success often attended these petitions : the 
clergy of each community could appeal 
to a long list of preternatural cures, owing 
to the intercession of the saints, whose bod- 
ies reposed in their church ; and the crowds 
of visitants, whom these miracles attracted, 
added to their reputation and importance. 

'^ SeYenthly, Purgatory. From the se- 
verity of the penitential canons, they had 
learned to form the most exalted notion of 
the justice of God, and of his hatred for sin : 
compensation they considered as necessary 
to atone for the transgression of the divine, 
as well as of human laws ; and, while they 
trembled lest, at the hour of death, their sat- 
isfaction should be deemed incomplete, they 



ZENOSIUS. 123 



indulged a consoling hope, that the residue 
of the debt might be discharged by the cha- 
rity of those who survived them. To se- 
cure the future exertions of his friends, v^as, 
in the eyes of the devout Saxon, an object 
of high importance : and v^ith this view^ nu- 
merous associations were formed, in which 
each individual bound himself to pray for 
the souls of the deceased members. Nor 
were these engagements confined to the 
communities of the monks and clergy : they 
comprehended persons of every rank in so- 
ciety, and extended to the most distant coun- 
tries. Guilds were an institution of great 
antiquity among the Anglo-Saxons ; and in 
every populous district they existed in nu- 
merous ramifications. They were of dif- 
ferent descriptions. Some were restricted 
to the performance of religious duties ; of 
others the professed object was the prosecu- 
tion of thieves, and the preservation of prop- 
erty : but all were equally solicitous to pro- 
vide for the spiritual welfare of the departed 



124 ZENOSIUS. 



brethren. As a specimen of their engage- 
ments, I may be allowed to translate a pajt 
of the laws established in the guild at Abbots- 
bury. ' If,' says the legislator, ' any one 
belonging to our association chance to die, 
each member shall pay one penny for the 
good of the soul, before the body be laid in 
the grave. If he neglect it, he shall be 
fined in a triple sum. If any of us fall sick 
within sixty miles, we engage to find fifteen 
men, who may bring him home ; but if he 
die first, we will send thirty to convey him 
to the place in which he desired to be bu- 
ried. If he die in the neighborhood, the 
stewaid shall inquire where he is to be in- 
terred, and shall summon as many members 
as he can to assemble, attend the corpse in 
an honorable manner, carry it to the minis- 
ter, and pray devoutly for the soul. Let us 
act in this manner, and we shall truly per- 
form the duty of our confraternity. This 
will be honorable to us both before God 
and man. For we know not who among us 



ZENOSIUS. 125 



may die first : but we believe that, with the 
assistance of God, this agreement will profit 
us all, if it be rightly observed.' The same 
sentiments are frequently expressed in the 
numerous letters addressed to St. Boniface, 
the apostle of Germany, and to LuUus, his 
successor in the see of Mentz, by abbots, 
prelates, thanes, and princes. Of many, the 
sole object is to renew their former engage- 
ments, and to transmit the names of their 
departed associates. * It is our earnest wish,' 
say the king of Kent and the bishop of Ro- 
chester, in their common letter to Lullus, 
' to recommend ourselves and our dearest 
relatives to your piety, that by your prayers 
we may be protected till we come to that 
life which knows no end. For what have 
we to do on earth but faithfully to exercise 
charity towards each other? Let us then 
agree, that when any among us enters the 
path which leads to another life, (may it be 
a life of happiness !) the survivors shall, by 
their alms and sacrifices, endeavor to assist 

_ 



126 ZENOSIUS 



him in his Journey. We have sent you the 
names of our deceased relations, Irmige, 
Norththry, and DuUcha, virgins dedicated to 
God : and beg that you will remember them 
in your prayers and oblations. On a similar 
occasion we will prove our gratitude by 
imitating your charity.' 

'^ Now, which of the Churches, at the 
present day, retains these doctrines of the 
ancient Saxons ? Which admits the su- 
preme jurisdiction of the legitimate succes- 
sors of Eleutherius and St. Gregory ? And 
which has substituted, in their stead, a youth- 
ful and giddy Queen ? 

" Which vindicates and administers seven 
Sacraments, in conformity with the practice 
of our ancestors ? And which, having re- 
jected seven, hardly deem the two others es- 
sential ? 

" Which has perpetuated the sacrifice of 
the Mass — and the authorized invocation of 
Saints, and prayer for the Dead ? No one 
can, for an instant, be at a loss to reply : 



ZENosiirs. 127 



and, consequently, no one can hesitate to 
conclude that the Roman Catholic Church 
— and not the Protestant — is the Church to 
which our venerated ancestors belonged — 
the true Apostolic Church, to whose bosom 
ally who have^ unfortunately, departed from 
her communion, are bound to return, with 
hearty compunction for the schism they have 
occasioned or have encouraged." 

Zenosius followed the learned ecclesiastic 
in bis copious and lucid exposition^ with 
wrapt attention, and merited admiration. He 
wondered to meet so great a personage in 
this remote and barren region — almost on 
the verge of the Ocean's shore : one sa plain, 
so unaffected, and yet sa grand and wise- 
But even that extraordinary wonder ceased, 
the instant he was informed that his venera- 
ble instructor was no other than the im« 
mortal Docter Lingard.^ 

1 See his History of the Anglo-Saxon Churchy passim : and 
particularly the fifths sixth, eighth, and ninth chapters, from 
which the above has been taken^ 



1 28 Z E N O S I u s . 



CHAPTER IX 



EXULTATION. 

How beautiful your presence, how benign, 
Servants of God ! who not a thought did share 
With the vain world ! — 

If there be prophets on whose spirit rest 
Past things, reveal'd like future, they can tell 
What Powers, presiding o'er the sacred well 
Of Christian faith, this savage Island bless'd 
With its first bounty. 

Wordsworth. 

^' Land of the Bedes, the Alfreds, the 
Dunstans, the Anselms, the Beckets — land 
whose fertile valleys once echoed to the 
chant of the monk, and the glad and sacred 
peal of the Abbey-bell, mingling with one 
full chime and chorus, in the praises of God, 
thou art now cursed with an awful, melan- 
choly silence of both. The majestic ca- 
thedrals, reared by the piety of Catholic 
ages, bewail, in solitary stillness, the dese- 
cration which they have been doomed to 
undergo : their ivied battlements and Gothic 



ZENOSIUS. 129 



arches, their inward decorations, and their 
outward structure, tell a tale of the past 
which confutes and shames the innovations 
of the present. The track of desolation is 
left deeply furrowed on every spot and 
monument, once hallowed by the spirit of 
Catholic faith. Thou art an unconnected 
link in the chain of Apostolicity. When 
bound to the See of Rome, the blessings of 
the Apostles Peter and Paul were thine. 
Thou didst then participate in the privilege 
of being numbered among the faithful child- 
ren of the Vicar of Christ. Thou now art 
pining, as it were, under an interdict,^ which 
will not be removed until thou dost penance 
for the deadly scandal thou has been giving, 
during three hundred years, to the other na- 
tions of the earth." Thus thought Zenosius, 
as he crossed the channel, pursuing his pil- 
grimage to the gates of Rome. 

The English Church, it may be here add- 
ed, has not only been schismatical and heret- 

i Faber. 



130 ZENOSIUS. 



ical, but to this sin she has added that of 
opposing the truth, — she has persecuted it. 
Having apostatized from the faith which Au- 
gustine preached to Ethelbert, under the 
spreading oaks of Thanet, she 'enacted the 
most sanguinary and prescriptive laws against 
Enghshmen who should conscientiously ad- 
here to the ancient doctrines. I am loath to 
evolve the cruel documents, or even allude 
to the horrible results. England has blushed 
at her own excesses, and, ashamed of the 
blood which the sun of the nineteenth cen- 
tury exposes, in full glare, to the eye and 
indignation of the civihzed world, she has 
labored, of late, to wash it off from her es- 
cutcheon with the tears of bitterness.^ 

1 Dr. Bridgewater, in a table published at the end of Concerta- 
tio EcclesicB Catholicm, gives us the names of about twelve hun- 
dred, who had suffered death for their faith, before the year 1588 ; 
that is, before the greatest heat of the persecution ; and yet de- 
clares, that he is far from pretending to have named all, but only 
smch whose sufferings had come to his knowledge. In this list 
there are thr^e archbishops, (taking in two of Ireland ;) bishops 
consecrated, or elected, eighteen ; one abbot ; four whole con- 
vents of religious : thirteen deans ; fourteen archdeacons ; sixty 
prebendaries ; five hundred and thirty priests ; forty-nine doctors 
of divinity ; eighteen doctors of the law ; and fifteen masters of 



Z E N O S lU S. 131 



But althoua^h the work of the executioner 
is done, the gibbet she erected is standing 
yet, in her sister Isle — a monument of ever- 
lasting shame ! Because the disciples of St. 
Patrick would not abjure the creed which 
that holy missionary brought from Rome — 
the same which Augustine preached, at the 
head of his procession of monks, to the ad- 
miring Saxon monarch — they have been 
overwhelmed with national misery. Their 
bright hearts have been clouded with sorrow, 
their buo3^ant and free spirits have been 
chained ; the lovely land, which they cher- 
ish with a passionate patriotism, has been 
laid waste and made desolate ; and exile — 
even in the wildest and most distant regions 
of the earth — where their consciences might 
be free, was more desirable than the ruined 
hearth and desolation of home. lerna !^ 

colleges ; one queen ; eight earls ; ten lords ; twenty-six knights ; 
three hundred and twenty-six gentlemen ; and about sixty ladies 
and gentlewomen. Many of these died in prison ; and several 
under sentence of death. 

1 Newton asserts that Orpheus of Crotona, in his poem called 
the Jirgonauts, and Aristotle, in his History of th« World, (dedi- 



132 ZENOSIUS 



thine hath been a terrible ordeal, but thy tri- 
umph is more terrible to thy oppressor. 
Arise, Isle of Saints ! shake off the dust ! 
cast down thy manacles — rear up thy de- 
molished altars — strike thy harp to song of 
jubilee and glory — thy captivity is at an end — 
thy ovation is at hand. Thou w^ast Cath- 
olic in thy w^oes, thou art still Catholic in thy 
exultation ! 

Then raise to Him whose mighty nod 
Scattered thy enemies — raise to God 
The hymn of Gratitude and Love — 
A new hymn — to thy God above. 
O Adonai whom we adore, 
Lord ! great and glorious is thy power : 
With thee the foe that dares contend 
Shall yield, and perish, in the end.^ 

cated to Alexander the Great,) make mention of Ireland, which 
they call lerna. — Chron. Introduc, p. 5. 
1 Canticle of Judith. 



1 

ZENOSIUS. 133 



CHAPTER X. 

CONFLICT OF LIFE AND DEATH IN THE LAND OF 

CHARLEMAGNE ZENOSIUS AT THE FOOT OF THE 

ALPS — A NOBLE GREEK THE ORIENTAL SCHISM 

MAHOMMEDANISM JUDAISM. 

Paris, sur ta Montagne im Saint Temple s'61eve 
Digne de toi, digne de Sainte Gen6vieve : 
Tardive piet6 I 

^non. 

Q,uid dulcius quam habere quocum omnia aiideas sic loqui ut 
tecum ? 

Cic. de Amicit. cap. 6. 

Autumn had now succeeded to the brief, 
but fruitful and beauteous summer. And 
Zenosius hastened his journey through the 
fair realm of France, pausing, but for a 
short time, to contemplate the tombs of Rollo 
and Richard Co^ur de Lion, in the venerable 
cathedral of Rouen. In the gay and giddy 
capital he delayed not. And his eyes merely 
fell en passant on the hoary turrets of Notre- 
Dame: a time-worn and solemn edifice, 
which throws a sacred and awful shadow of 
antiquity upon the brilhant gewgaws of the 

12 



134 ZENOSIUS. 



present that surround it. What heart hke 
that of our pilgrim-convert could brook the 
ruins with which the infernal powxr of Infi- 
delity, under the pompous title of Philoso- 
phy, has strewn the land of Genevieve and 
Charlemagne ? And yet France must not 
despair. The germ of faith, w^hich, planted 
by the hands of her primitive Apostles, 
sprang up in such wondrous luxuriance, and 
produced such abundant harvests, in bygone 
days, is still deep in the soil. Notwithstand- 
ing the blighting influence that pervades, it 
swells anew, and, ever and anon, shoots, with 
primeval energy, through the earth. Per- 
haps another struggle between Faith and 
Infidelity — and it will ♦be the last. And 
then, with universal jubilee and thanksgiving 
will the choirs of that Church — the eldest 
daughter of Rome — swell the sacred paean ! 

Mors et vita duello covflixere mirando. 
In marvellous conflict Life and Death have met. 

Zenosius was now at the foot of that tre- 
mendous mountain which stands up like an 



ZENOSIUS. 135 



everlasting barrier between the olive-fields 
of Italy, and the vineyards of France. The 
snow-clad summits were enveloped in clouds, 
which occasionally gave way before the bright 
autumnal sun, that was rising magnificently 
over them. It was a glorious morning : but 
many as glorious a morning has broken over 
the wanderer, amid these Alpine solitudes, to 
set in storm and desolation. Yet has he one 
certain source of consolation : it is, that 
should he be overtaken by tempest on its 
trackless brow, there was a shelter, a re- 
fuge, and a home already prepared for him 
by the spirit of Catholic charity, in the mo- 
nastery of the Great Saint Bernard. 

His only companion was a Greek noble- 
man, who, he rejoiced to be informed, was 
in communion with the Holy See ; from 
whom he derived much interesting and useful 
information, concerning the Oriental Schism. 

'^ For the first time in my life, I am to 
enjoy the pleasure of treading on the conse- 
crated soil of Rome," he remarked. 



136 ZENOSIUS. 



" Thou art not, then, a disciple of the 
Patriarch ?" returned Zenosius. 

" No ; before the schism of Michael Ce- 
rularius, my ancestors were subject to the 
spiritual jurisdiction of the Pope, and my 
family have ever adhered to the centre of 
Catholic unity. For we clearly perceive, 
in the separation of the Greek from the 
Latin Church, a schismatical character, 
which, alas ! seems indelibly impressed on 
the former. The perpetuity of one only 
Catholic and Apostolical Church is clear, 
from the very symbol which the Greeks 
have preserved. I believe in one Holy, 
Catholic, and Apostolical Church, And 
since this symbol could never be, at any 
time, erroneous, the one Holy, Catholic, 
and Apostohc Church could not have per- 
ished. 

'' Now that Church existed before the 
separation ; the Greeks themselves acknowl- 
edged its authority, and believed all its doc- 
trines. Consequently it must continue, since 



ZENOSIUS. 137 



the separation, either among the Greeks or 
Latins. But, when the Greeks separated 
from the Latins, the Latin Church did not 
undergo the shghtest change, but continued 
the same in point of dogma and discipHne. 
Therefore it cannot be denied that the true 
Rehgion of Jesus Christ existed in the Latin, 
or Roman Church : otherwise it could not 
be found in the Greek Church, which had 
been united with the Latin by the profes- 
sion of the same faith. If, therefore, the 
Latin Church was the true Church pre- 
viously to the separation, it is evident that it 
has continued and has not changed — and 
must still remain the true Church." 

" Thy reasoning is conclusive. Count," 
said Zenosius ; *' and thy noble femily have 
acted not only generously, but consistently, 
in retaining the primitive faith." 

*' It hath cost us dearly to preserve that 
faith," returned the Count, " But so much 
the more precious is it in our consideration 
— so much nearer to our hearts. For we 



12* 



138 ZENOSIUS 



have not forgotten the memorable saying of 
the wise man : What doth he hioxv that hath 
not been tried ?^ The vahie of true faith 
can be appreciated duly by no one who hath 
not suffered for it." 

" The Greek Church clianged, therefore," 
remarked Zcnosius ; *^ and a Church tliat 
could change is not the spouse of Christ." 

'' Yes, they renounced the communion 
with the Holy See," said the Count, ener- 
getically : '' that communion which their 
ancestors had honored as the focus and cen- 
tre of Catholic unity. They venerate the 
authority of the seven first General Coun- 
cils, and must be forced to admit that in 
them the primacy of St. Peter was solenmly 
recognised^ and not only in the most an- 
cient, but in those touching the epoch of 
their schism. 

'' In withdrawing from the Latin Church, 
they abandoned the ways in which their 
fathers walked — which had been traced out 

1 Eccles., chap, xxxiv., v. 11. 



ZE NO S lU s. 139 



by an Athanasius, and a Chrysostom — who 
always honored, in the See of Rome, the 
primacy of Peter. Again, they have lost the 
Cathohc character, expressed in the creed, 
which, it is undeniable, the Latins have re- 
tained. Their schism is confined to certain 
parts of the East ; while, in others, several 
Greek Churches are still united with Rome, 
and concur in forming the one Catholic 
Church spread over the entire world." 

^' Have the modern schismatic Greeks 
much veneration for the primitive Fathers of 
the Church ?" inquired Zenosius. 

^' They have ; and not for the Oriental 
only, but, likewise, for the Western. And 
by the testimony of those Fathers, are they 
condemned. Because all of them revered 
the authority of the Holy See, and were 
subject to its supremacy. The Greeks, 
therefore — my unhappy countrymen — are cut 
off from the trunk of the ancient Church ; 
form but a withered branch of the great tree 
that covers the whole world with its shade 



140 ZENOSIUS. 

— stretching from river to river, from pole to 
pole — and that still bears, as in its earliest 
existence and primeval vigor, innumerable 
and life-giving fruits/ With the Church of 
England, they are guilty of schism ; but 
they possess other advantages w^hich that 
Church has foregone. They have an un- 
doubted succession of orders ; administer 
validly, though illicitly, the sacraments ; and 
consecrate the body and blood of Christ on 
their altars. Both are equally bound to re- 
turn to the centre of unity, to submit to the 
jurisdiction and supremacy of Rome, and, 
thereby, atone for their dreadful sin, and ar- 
rest the fatal and w^ide-spreading influence 
of Sectarianism and Infidelity." 

** Thou hast made the subject of religion 
an especial study. Count, it would appear," 
remarked Zenosius. '' Instruction on this 
most essential of all sciences is the object 
that hath brought me so far from my native 
land." 

1 See the Cardinal Gerdil's Ckiracteres de la vrai religion. 



ZENOSIUS. 141 



" It hath been my favorite pursuit," he re- 
turned : ^' and the farther I travel, and the 
more I see and learn, the more profoundly 
are my convictions of the divinity of the 
Roman Catholic Church rooted in my mind. 
My travels throughout Asia have been ex- 
tensive. I have spent years among the Ma- 
hommedanSj and have resided among Jew^s. 
I am familiar with the Alcoran and the Tal- 
mud — " 

^' I rejoice at this circumstance," said Ze- 
nosius : '^ perhaps thou wilt not object to let 
me share some of thy information touching 
the one and the other. We are not yet half 
way up the Alpine heights, and what more 
interesting beguilement of the tedious as- 
cent could we have recourse to, than 
the discussion of these religious ques- 
tions ?" 

/'None," subjoined the Count; "and, 
with great willingness, will I communicate 
to you my impressions concerning the mon- 
strous systems of Mahommedanism, and the 



142 ZE NO SIU s. 



present condition of the Synagogue. His 
iitere viecum. 

'' I cannot but see in Mahommedanism 
demonstrative proofs of evident falsehood 
and imposition. Its founder, in order to 
show that the Alcoran is worthy of belief 
and confidence, says : That it is the truth, 
confirming all that is contained in the Book 
of the Jeics, He was obhged to use such 
language, since he boasted of his intention 
to restore the ancient Religion of the Patri- 
archs. Now, it is evidently false that the 
Alcoran confirms the book of the Jews. 
Every thing in that book, as well as in the 
religion of the Patriarchs, refers to one only 
Messiah, who was to bring all nations to the 
knowledge of the God of Israel : that after 
the advent of that Messiah, the ancient sac- 
rifice should cease, in order to be replaced 
by a new sacrifice, which should be pure, 
clean, and offered in every quarter of the 
world, to the name and honor of the true 
God : and more than six centuries (before 



ZENOSIUS. 143 



the birth of Mahommed) witnessed the ac- 
complishment of this by the preaching of the 
Gospel. It is the Gospel, therefore, and 
not the Alcoran that is ^ truih^ and that 
confirms what is written in the book of the 
Jews. 

'^ Moreover, the Alcoran is full of mani- 
fest and palpable errors. For example, in 
confounding Mary, the sister of Aaron, with 
Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ. It con- 
tains absurd errors, contrary to morals and 
the worship of the Most High. It allows an 
idolatrous and superstitious worship, which 
the Arabs were in the habit of practising on 
the mountains of Ararat and Marva. It per- 
mits its followers to deny God through fear of 
death. It excuses revenge, provided it does 
not exceed the injury received. It asserts 
that God will not punish rash oaths. It 
confers on masters an infamous power over 
their female slaves. It makes Paradise not 
a region of holiness and hght, where God is 
loved and enjoyed — but a place of sensual 



144 ZENOSIUS. 



pleasures, where the passions will be un- 
controlled. 

" Mahommed confesses that Jesus Christ 
is the Messiah, and the Word of God : but 
Jesus Christ had established a Church in 
which all truth was to reside until the con- 
summation of time. Consequently, the con- 
fidence which the Mahommedans repose in 
their Prophet must lead them not to believe 
in him — since, if he stated the truth, Jesus 
was the Messiah, and the Word of God : 
then, any alteration made in the Church es- 
tablished by the Messiah must be a false- 
hood : but Mahommedanism has altered it ; 
therefore — the Prophet himself being the 
judge — Mahommedanism is false." 

The Count reasoned with precision and 
force. The conclusion, flowing from prem- 
ises that were undeniable^ was irresistible. 
And although Zenosius had made the sub- 
ject no ordinary study, still it now burst 
upon his mind with a new and brilliant light. 
He looked, with admiration, upon his learned 



ZENOSIUS. 145 



and noble companion, whose manner was as 
elegant as his conversation was profound. 

^' With respect to the Synagogue," the 
Count resumed, *' few words will suffice, 
especially as we are fast approaching the 
monastery." 

" I see the hospitable pile on the very 
apex of the icy mountain," observed Zeno- 
sius. 

" We have been favored with a pleasant 
day, and a right good sled. The roads, too, 
are hard as marble," added the Count. ^^But, 
touching Judaism : we well know, that, in 
its origin, it was a divine religion. Every 
thing connected with it had reference to the 
promised Messiah, figured and predicted, in 
a variety of manners, in the ancient Testa- 
ment. All the prophecies have been ac- 
complished in the person of Jesus Christ. 
The Jews, therefore, are under an indispen- 
sable obligation, in virtue of their own sacred 
oracles, to examine the truth ; in which ex- 
amination, they should consider two things : 



146 ZENOSIUS 



first, that the Messiah was to teach all na- 
tions the knowledge of God ; secondly, that 
the coming of the Messiah was to be fol- 
lowed by the desolation of their race, and 
the cessation of all Jewish worship. Now, 
after the advent of Jesus Christ, the Jewish 
nation was dispersed, the temple destroyed, 
and the ancient sacrifice abolished. The 
most learned of the Rabfeis, cited by Bossuet, 
have acknowledged that the cessation of the 
supreme authority, which happened in the 
time of Christ, was a certain sign that the 
Messiah had appeared. Consequently, the 
very law of Moses, and the divine Scriptures, 
also, which the Jews still hold in veneration, 
offer unequivocal proofs that the children of 
the Synagogue are in error — and sufficient 
motives to induce them to emerge from the 
darkness in which they have, during eighteen 
hundred years, been, so lamentably, buried.^ 
Time forbids me to continue any farther 
development of this great subject ; for lo ! 

1 Caracteres de la Vrai Religion. 



ZENOSIUS. 147 



the traineau has stopped before the gates of 
the monastery. We are on the highest peak 
of the mountains, surrounded with eternal 
snow, and magnificent desolation. See how 
terribly grand is the sunset, amid these tre- 
mendous crags and precipices ! And, me- 
thinks, from its going down in yon faintly- 
descried mist, a storm is brewing around us, 
which, when it comes, with the blessing of 
Providence, we may defy, under the shel- 
tering roof of this asylum of religious 
charity." 



148 ZENOSIUS 



CHAPTER XL 

THE ALPINE MONASTERY THE PEACEFUL NIGHT 

THE STORMY DAY THE APPOSITE ESSAY. 

Hope guides the young : but when the old must pass 
The threshold, whither shall they turn to find 
The hospitality which that house bestowM 1 

Wordsworth. 

. , . . But holy is the feast 
He keepeth : like the firmament his ways, 
His statutes like the chambers of the deep. 

Idem, 

In effect, the doors seemed to fly open, 
as though by instinct, to receive the weary 
wanderers, ere the night should mantle the 
icy roads in darkness. The dogs, which 
had been out on their errand of search, 
through the pathless snows, among the wild 
and almost inextricable fastnesses of the 
Alps, had already returned, and given notice 
that strangers were near. Faithful and half- 
reasoning animals ! which seem trained, by 
the care of Christian charity, to partake of 
the admirable spirit that animates the soli- 
tary inmates of these walls. An aged monk 



ZENOSIUS. 149 



received them ; who, from his earhest man- 
hood, had abode in this wilderness, aloof 
from the view of the world, as well as from 
its enjoyments ; devoted to religion, by the 
vows of his order, and sacrificing his life to 
the safety and comfort of the lost and hope- 
less : of men, who, mayhap, when their 
danger is over, are not only thankless for 
their heroic kindness, but revilers of the 
Church that gave birth to and fosters such 
perfection. An abundant board was spread 
before them, a comfortable fire was kindled 
to warm them, and soft beds were prepared 
on which to repose their exhausted frames, 
and sleep in peace. 

They slept. But when the night had 
passed, a storm, which the Count's keen 
vision had espied in the misty evening hori- 
zon, was raging, with tremendous violence, 
around them. In dense and rapid flakes the 
snow was falling, and the cavities of the 
mountain were rebounding with wild and 
uproarious reverberations. 



13 



Q* 



150 ZENOSIUS 



'* Thou hast proved a true seer, Count," 
remarked Zenosius. " The storm hath come, 
in all its fury, and how should we have 
fared, last night, if this blessed asylum had 
not been opened to admit us ?" 

'' This asylum is yours, as long as the 
tempest rages, and longer, if ye choose," 
said the venerable monk. '' This day ye 
will be compelled to spend here. Perchance 
towards night it may cease, and the snows, 
which freeze as they fall, and become a solid 
mass of ice, will not impede your journey 
on the morrow. Be at home. Our little 
chapel is there — our humble library here — 
and the monastery is at your service." 

The day was spent in useful and edifying 
conversation, and reading. With the fol- 
lowing apposite essay Zenosius was particu- 
larly delighted, especially as it was read 
aloud by the Count, with Christian unction, 
and courteous elegance '} 

'' From the infancy of the world, man has 

1 From the Essai sur r Indifference. 



ZENOSIUS. 151 



witnessed the miseries of his fellow-man : 
but many a century elapsed, before he even 
thought of relieving them — of rescuing him 
from their oppression, and of mehorating the 
condition of human nature. Though he 
might have experienced some vain senti- 
ments of pity for his suffering brethren, 
where do we find that he made the least ex- 
ertion to remove or alleviate them ? Among 
the ancients, we cannot discover a shadow of 
an institution in behalf of the unfortunate. 
Neither Philosophy nor Paganism ever wiped 
away a single tear from the eye of sorrow, 
indigence, or orphanage ; — ever attempted 
to sooth the woes of the miserable ; provide 
for the wants of the wretched ; or to admin- 
ister solace to the mourner. Though pity 
was enthroned, by the Creator, in the human 
heart, it was exiled thence by false philoso- 
phy — and Stoicism usurped her seat. 
Hence Seneca does not hesitate to style 
compassion, ' the vice of weak minds.' 
' Weep not with those who weep,' was one 



152 ZENOSIUS. 



of the maxims of Marcus Aurelius, and a 
precept common to the Stoic school. Even 
Virgil asserts, that a wise man feels no com- 
passion for indigence — neither envies the 
rich, no7^ pities the poo7\ 

'' How contrary this cold and selfish max- 
im to the sympathies of Christian charity ! 
Alas ! is man, then, so callous to his own 
wants and woes, as not to pity them in his 
brethren ? Does not nature teach him, when 
he weeps amid his own miseries, to weep 
for those of others ; and when he seeks to 
remove his own, not to forget theirs ? No ; 
the greatest miracle wrought by Religion on 
the heart of man, was to soften it, and make 
it feel for miseries not his own : and this 
triumph over the selfishness of nature no 
one can deny, who looks abroad over the 
Christian world. It strikes every eye, if it 
does not subdue every heart. 

" Come, follow the paths of the Religion 
of love ; trace her, in her heavenly career, 
and you will behold her, everywhere, giving 



ZENOSIUS. 153 



glory to God, and peace to men. You will 
see her coming forth from the bosom of God, 
with every blessing for the children of earth. 
Charity and Hope accompany her on her 
way, one pouring out comfort, consolation, 
relief of every kind — the other kindling up 
lights in the dark places, over ruins and 
graves, and dispersing the shadows of death 
itself, with the flambeau of immortality. 
Yes, follow Religion — and number, if you 
can, the benedictions which she showers 
upon the children of men, the works of 
mercy which she occasions, the feelings of 
pity which she awakens ; the poor she re- 
lieves, the orphans she cherishes, the widows 
she supports, the sick she nurses, the dying 
she consoles and resigns to their agony, the 
dead she buries, and forgets not in her 
prayers. 

" When pestilence lays desolate the land, 
and hurries, like a destroying angel, from 
house to hoase, strewing the dying upon the 
dead — there will you find the tender, fear- 



154 ZENOSIUS 



less, persevering charity of religion. When 
philosophy will have flown to the mountains, 
and left the hearth and the home all waste 
and ruin, she, sweet guardian of the help- 
less, clings to the desolation, rescues as many 
as possible from the scourge, and consigns 
its victims, with all the rites of Christian 
sepulture, to the tomb. 

" In the third century, a great part of the 
Roman empire was ravaged by the plague. 
The Pagans, forgetful of their friends and 
brethren, took to flight, and left those who 
were infected to die without relief. A 
dreadful persecution w^as, at this period, 
raging against the Christians — and yet, in- 
stead of rejoicing at the visitation which 
afflicted their enemies — instead of entertain- 
ing any sentiment of complacency at be- 
holding their persecutors persecuted, their 
tormentors tormented — instead of leaving 
them, when forsaken by their nearest and 
dearest friends, the disciples of Christianity, 
the members of that mystic body, whose 



ZENOSIUS. 155 



head is Charity, continued among them, 
nursed the sick, devoted themselves to their 
service, watched by them, felt for them, 
prayed for them, died for them — avenging 
themselves, in this heroic manner, on the 
very enemies of their religion. 

'' How maiiy examples of this kind do 
not the annals of the Church record ! The 
charity of Christians caused the sages of 
Paganism to blush. ' It is a subject of 
shame for us,' thus wrote the Emperor Ju- 
lian to Arsacius, Pontiff of Asia, ' to be- 
hold the Galileans, besides their own poor, 
taking care of ours also.' 

" Christianity did not degenerate, her en- 
ergies and vigor did not become decrepit, 
with age. Her annals are stored with the 
services which she has bestowed on man- 
kind, in every century. They have accu- 
mulated with years, and, like the streams 
that fertilize the earth, waft increased bless- 
ings in proportion as they expand with time. 
The spirit of charity, w^hich produced such 



156 ZENOSIUS 



wonders, in the primitive ages, still continues, 
in our own times, to give birth to others not 
less striking. But a few years since, when 
the city of Malaga was infested with the 
plague, and the streets of that capital were 
strewed with the dying and the dead, an as- 
sociation of religious men was formed, who 
scoured the city, giving notice, by the ring- 
ing of bells, which they carried for the pur- 
pose, that they were at hand to attend, nurse, 
and serve, the victims of the plague. Al- 
most all of them fell martyrs to their 
charity. 

^' But let us dwell no longer on these 
particular examples — with which volumes 
might be filled — let us pass over the history 
of a Charles Borromeo ; what could I say 
of him, that would be adequate to his heroic 
deserts ! what could I say of a Vincent of 
Paul, who, in times of calamity, afforded 
nourishment, it may be said, to entire prov- 
inces ; whose boundless charity extended 
beyond the seas, to the shores of Madagas- 



ZENOSIUS. 157 



car, and the forests of the New World, and 
who alone seemed charged with the duty to 
relieve all human misery. Such a man is a 
prodigy of himself; in his heart seemed 
centred all the rays of divine charity, and 
heavenly benevolence — which, emanating 
from the Sun of Justice and Religion, scat- 
tered themselves abroad, to enlighten, warm, 
and sooth the cold, dark, afflicted spirits of 
men. He, alone, might force any age to be- 
lieve in Christianity, and practise virtue. 

'' Cast your eyes upon the durable estab- 
lishments, the generous and permanent bene- 
factions, of Religion. Those solitary asy- 
lums of innocence and repentance, which 
nations will more and more learn to regret — 
those peaceful retreats for misfortune — those 
magnificent palaces for indigence. Who 
has erected them ? who endowed them ? 
who provided for every department of their 
wants and cares ? Religious charity. When 
philosophy ruled, they were destroyed. Hu- 
man reason has ever been ungrateful to that 



158 ZENOSIUS 



religion and faith, which have done so much 
in favor of humanity. 

" And, v^ith what profusion has not Chris- 
tianity multipHed those touching institutions, 
so eminently social ! Their number is al- 
most infinite — equal only to our miseries. 
Here, behold the daughter of Vincent of 
Paul visiting the infirm old man, dressing 
his disgusting wounds, and speaking to him 
of heaven : there, see her caressing, with a 
mother's feelings, the forlorn orphan, and 
pillowing on her bosom the aching brow of 
the abandoned child. Yonder, the Sister of 
the Hospital, assisting, consoling the sick, 
forgetting herself, and lavishing on them, by 
day and night, the most assiduous and heart- 
felt attentions. We saw the religious of the 
Great St. Bernard fixing their abode in re- 
gions of perpetual snow, devoting their lives, 
amid the awful sohtudes, and eternal winter 
of the highest Alpine mountains, to rescue 
and save the lost and way-worn traveller. 
Contemplate the brother of the Bona Mors, 



ZENOSIUS. 159 



bending over the couch of the departing, 
smoothing the spirit's exit, and directing it 
to heaven : and, then, laying the mortal 
spoils at rest, in the consecrated earth. 

*' By the side of those chivalrous knights, 
those ' praying soldiers,' as they are some- 
times called, who almost alone protected 
Europe from Moslem subjugation, to the 
religious of the Order of Mercy, carrying 
about him, in triumph, captives w^hom he has 
not chained, but whose chains he has bro- 
ken, and whose redemption he has achieved^ 
by exposing himself to a thousand dangers, 
and incredible fatigues. See the Priests of 
religion, and brethren of every order, l^urst- 
ing asunder, with superhuman virtue, ties 
the most dear, bonds the most natural, and 
going forth, with great joy, to water with 
their sweat, and sprinkle with their blood, 
countries afar off, regions savage and inhos- 
pitable, with no other hope, no other desire, 
than to rescue from ignorance, barbarism, 
crime, and misery, people unknown to them. 



160 ZENOSIUS. 

After having fertilized, with his sweat, the 
uncultivated hill, and sterile field, the la- 
borious Benedictine, retired in his little cell, 
wrought, with untiring industry, in the no less 
barren field of history and ancient law. To 
the Jesuit, education of youth, pulpit ora- 
tory, missionary tact, and every useful work, 
were peculiar and famihar. His zeal em- 
braced all, sufficed for all. The humble 
Capuchin traversed the plains, aiding the 
pastors in their holy functions, descending 
into the caverns of the earth, and the depths 
of the prison-cell, to carry the word of peace 
to the victims of human justice. Emblems 
of the hope of which they were the minis- 
ters, they accompanied, to the end, the un- 
fortunate penitent about to be executed, par- 
ticipating in his anguish, animating his sink- 
ing courage, and fortifying him at once 
against the terrors of punishment, and the 
horrors of remorse. Their hands, which 
have grasped the victim with compassion at 
the inflexible tribunal of man, will not let go 



ZE N O S I U S. 161 



their hold of charity, until they have placed 
him at the foot of the tribunal of a merci- 
ful God. 

^' But would you turn your eyes from this 
melancholy scene, and fix them upon a spec- 
tacle no less pleasing than amiable ? — Con- 
template the guardians of infancy, those an- 
gels of charity, who devote themselves to 
the Christian education of indigent children. 
Teaching them the elements of a plain and 
solid education, and grounding them in the 
lofty principles of true philosophy — the fear 
of God ; forming their tender hearts to re- 
ligion, teaching the young idea to shoot out 
in virtue, instructing them in all their duties, 
inculcating maxims the most important and 
consoling, preparing them for their calling 
on earth, and for their destination in Heaven. 
This is the subject to which our attention 
should be most particularly directed in these 
days, when we are called upon to co-operate 
in this mini stry of religion, charity, and human- 
ity. We should remember that rehgion is the 



14* 



162 ZENOSIUS 



ground-work of the education of the people. 
Without religion, they will be taught nothing 
of that which is most important to society, 
and most essential for themselves. They 
would be ignorant of the great duties which 
they owe to men, and their immortal and 
magnificent destination hereafter. They 
would know nothing of their fellow-men, 
and their glorious expectations, which even 
death cannot extinguish. They would vege- 
tate, like mere weeds, or at most, brief flow- 
ers, in the garden of life, either possessing 
no spiritual fragrance, or, certainly, not emit- 
ting through society the odor of sweetness. 
Religion confers civilization, refinement, 
greatness. She nourishes the poor with the 
food of truth, as well as with bread — teach- 
ing them ' that not on bread alone doth man 
live.' She causes the human intellect to 
expand, and assume a sublimity which 
nothing else can impart. The simplest 
child in his school is grounded more truly in 
real philosophy, than the pretended sages of 



ZENOSIUS. 163 



impiety ; and ' can,' in the language of an 
eloquent writer, ' with the catechism in his 
hand, confound the vanity and pride of Rea- 
son.' 

'' I should never end were I to enter into 
all the details of Christian charity. Pene- 
trate into the bosom of families, interrogate 
the members of them, and they will reply : 
See what enmities have been appeased, what 
heart-burnings have been cured, what evils 
have been prevented, by her heavenly influ- 
ence. Oh, how many broken hearts have 
been healed — how many wasted spirits have 
been renewed — how many scalding tears 
have been wiped away — how many hearths, 
which otherwise would have been desolate 
and dark, have been lighted up again, and 
rendered cheerful and blessed, by Char- 
ity ! 

"Alas ! the philosophy of the world is cal- 
lous to the sufferings of the distressed, and^ 
deaf to the appeal of poverty and orphan- 
age. Is it a beggar, famished, like the 



164 ZENOSIUS 



wretched Lazarus, conjuring the rich man 
to give him, at least, the crumbs from his ta- 
ble ? philosophy styles him a vagabond, and 
a nuisance. Is he hungry, is he covered 
with rags ? ' Let him work,' it exclaims. 
Christian charity pities him, succors him, 
and, if he is able to labor, procures him em- 
ployment. She does not disdain to hold 
communion with the poor ; she knows that 
Christ, her founder, is represented by them. 
She does not spurn away the orphan, she 
remembers the saying of the Redeemer : 
* Suffer little children to come unto me.' 
She pours oil into the wounds of the suf- 
ferer, she seeks for the children of the deso- 
late widow, and places them under the ma- 
ternal protection of religion. She gives 
what she can : her mite, if she can spare 
no more — a cup of cold water — a tear ! 

'^ As Christian charity is to endure for- 
ever, so shall there always exist in the world 
objects upon whom it may be exercised. 
The Redeemer remarked that ' there would 



ZENOSIUS. 165 



always be poor among us.'^ There will al- 
ways be widows, always orphans, and, con- 
sequently, the appeal of charity will never 
cease : it will be heard at all times — it will 
ring in the ears of the rich — it will shake 
the heart of the feeling — it will shriek amidst 
the noise of the revel, and the songs of the 
festival — it will alarm the gay, and the 
thoughtless, and the worldly — it will write 
upon the wall, in the bright hour of the 
dance and the pageant, letters of mysterious 
import, such as were traced, by the finger of 
vengeance, on Balthazar's halls. There will 
always be poor, that there may always be 
pity — and mercy — that the words of Christ 
may have effect : ^ Blessed are the merciful, 
for they shall obtain mercy.' "^ 

1 Mark, chap, xvi., v. 7. 2 Matth., chap, v., v. 7. 



166 ZENOSIUS 



CHAPTER XII. 



THE CATHOLIC CHURCH THE PARENT OF CHARITY 

HER SOLITARIES DESCENT INTO THE PLAINS OF 

LOMBARDY THE GREEK COUNT DEVELOPS THE 

SANCTITY OF THE CHURCH. 



Within his cell, 



Round the decaying trunk of human pride, 
At morn, at eve, at midnight's silent hour, 
His penitential cogitations cling, 
Like ivy round some ancient elm — 

... a fair growth they bring 
For recompense — their own perennial bower. 

Wordsworth. 



No doubt that golden cords 



Of good works, mingling with their visions, raise 

The soul to purer worlds. 

Id. 

** Where can such institutions, where 
such perfection be found," thought Zeno- 
sius, ^' except in the Cathohc Church ! 
Protestantism does not understand the na- 
ture of them, cannot appreciate the elements 
of which they are composed. They are 
the offspring of faith — hving, energetic, and 
ever-ardent faith, — which has no dwelhng- 



ZE N O S I u s. 167 



place save in the sanctuaries of the ancient 
Church, and in the hearts of those goodly and 
devoted ascetics and solitaries, who, leaving 
all things, have followed their divine Master, 
while they exercise an eminently social and 
hallowed influence, by their deeds of charity, 
and their habits of prayer, over the world 
they have forsaken." In the monk, who pre- 
sided over this monastery, amid the ever- 
lasting winter of the Alps, he contemplated 
the personification of charity, disinterested- 
ness, and virtue. 

For many a year his home had been 

Amid these solitary wilds ; 
Watching the tracks of weary men, 

And rescuing them from death. 

Thrice happy he — that goodly monk, 
His is the peace Religion gives ; 

Remote from worldly cares and broils. 
The hopeless he relieves : 

Then tells his beads, and prays his prayer — 
Sojourning here but for a while : 



168 ZENOSIUS. 



For having run his godly race, 
He'll rest in Heaven's own smile. 



Having assisted at mass, (how awfully 
solemn the sacrifice in this vast and eternal 
temple of the God of winter!) Zenosius left 
the monastery accompanied by the Greek 
Count, and the descent down into the plains 
of Lombardy commenced. The morning 
was not clear, but the snow had ceased, 
and the cold was intense. 

" We have had an opportunity of witness- 
ing the realization of that attribute of the 
Church, by which she is characterized and 
distinguished from all sects," remarked the 
Count. '' However depraved mankind, how- 
ever degenerate this age, there is, neverthe- 
less, preserved in the Cathohc Church the 
principle and action of sanctity." 

" holy Church !" Zenosius exclaimed ; 
'' spouse of Christ, without stain or wrinkle 
— fair as the moon, beautiful as the sun, and 
strong as an army in battle array ! Too 



ZENOSIUS. 169 



highly favored he who hath been cradled on 
her bosom, but yet more privileged the poor 
wanderer into strange ways, whom the mer- 
cy of Heaven conducts into her holy taber- 
nacles. Thine, Count, was the former bless- 
ing — mine the latter grace !" 

" I understand thee ; thou art a convert," 
returned the Count. " Thou hast been led, 
by the sweet impulses of grace, into the path 
and sanctuary of truth and faith. The por- 
tals of holiness have been unbarred, and all 
their brightness and beauty have burst upon 
thy ravished sight." 

" Beauty always ancient and always new ! 
too late have I known thee ! — may Eutha- 
lia, too, my darling sister Euthalia — " 

" Be not overcome with feeling — one of 
the sweetest and most certain effects of true 
faith is to lull the excited emotions of a 
troubled heart, and inspire a holy calm into 
the purified conscience of a penitent." 

" Thou, just now, didst allude to the sanc- 
tity of the Roman, Catholic, and Apostolic 

15 """ 



170 ZENOSIUS. 



Church," said Zenosiiis, with recovered com- 
posure. " Some development of this fine 
subject will be extremely gratifying to me. 
Pardon my importunity, noble Greek, but, 
as Providence hath associated me with thee, 
in this our romantic and lengthened journey 
over the Alps, I feel emboldened to be 
somewhat obtrusive and exacting." 

The zealous and accomplished Count as- 
senting, with cheerful and elegant readiness, 
entered, immediately, on the topic. 

^' Sanctity is one of the characteristic 
marks of the Church. Sanctity in its head, 
Christ Jesus ; sanctity in its doctrine, mo- 
rals, sacraments ; sanctity practised in an 
heroic degree, by many of its members. 

'' In the first place, Jesus Christ has been 
styled, by St. Paul, the head of the mys- 
tic body of the Church ; by whom it was 
formed, and in whom all the members are 
bound together in the closest ties of union. 
But this Head of the Church is the divine 
Word, who was begotten of the Father from 



Z E NO S lU S. 171 



all eternity, ('ante luciferum genui te,') 'in 
the splendors of the saints.''^ He is the Holy 
of Holies, in whom, in the most eminent per- 
fection, was fomid, according to St. John, 
the plenitude of grace and truth — and the 
fulness of his sanctity is diffused through 
the whole Church. ' Of his fulness we have 
all received,' writes that same beloved Evan- 
gehst.^ 

" Examine the sanctity of faith which he 
has communicated to the Church. From 
the bosom of his Father he hath brought 
down upon earth the treasure of celestial 
doctrine, comprehending mysteries the most 
august, commandments the most sacred, 
counsels the most perfect : and he has sent 
the Holy Spirit to teach, and maintain all 
truth, promising to be with us to the end of 
ages. Hence the deposite of faith hath been 
preserved inviolable, transmitted from the 
Apostles and their successors down to our 
own times. The Church to whom this ce- 

1 Ps. cviii. 2 John, chap. i. v. 16. 



172 ZENOSIUS. 



lestial treasure hath been committed, this 
divine deposite Rath been intrusted, must, 
therefore, be decorated with the glorious at- 
tribute of sanctity. 

" The sanctity of faith would not be suf- 
ficient to render holy the Church composed 
of individuals, sinful in their origin, liable to 
fall into every crime, and surrounded with 
innumerable frailties and passions, if to 
these evils Christ, the head of the mystic 
body, had not provided an effectual remedy. 
In the language of the Apostle, he has loved 
the Church and given himself for it, that he 
might sanctify it ;— yes, he purifies it in the 
waters of the word of life — he effaces in- 
iquity, and confers those graces which con- 
vert sinful men into perfect saints. ' He 
w^ashes the flesh,' says Tertullian, ' that the 
soul may be clean ; he anoints the flesh, that 
the soul may be strengthened ; he shadows 
it, by the imposition of hands, that the soul 
may be enlightened ; he feeds it with his 
body and blood, that the soul may be nour- 



ZENOSIUS. 173 



ished.' In the last of these sources of sanc- 
tity, mentioned by Tertulhan, behold the 
excellence of the eucharistic sacrament ! 
Behold, on our altars truly present and hv- 
ing, under the symbols of bread and wine, 
the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace 
and truth. There all may receive him — all 
may partake of his gifts, his graces, his 
riches — all may find a remedy for their 
weaknesses, an antidote for their passions, 
an augmentation of justice — there they may 
feast upon his goodness, and become, in the 
language of Scripture, inebriated in the tor- 
rent of his pleasure.^ 

'' But this is not all. The views of Jesus 
Christ, for the sanctification of his Church, 
do not stop here. He is pleased to sacrifice 
himself upon our altars in a spiritual manner 
— a holy and immaculate victim, a true and 
mystic oblation — 09*0 ring himself perpetually 
to his eternal Father, renewing, in an un- 
bloody manner, his passion and his death, 

1 Ps. XXXV. 

15* 



174 ZENOSIUS. 



and thus imparting to his Church the most 
perfect degree of sanctity. This was the 
belief of the primitive Christians, inscribed 
on all the monuments of the earliest ages, and 
recorded and defended in the works of the 
most ancient fathers ; discovered in the con- 
struction of those venerable basihcks erected 
by the first Christian Emperor of Rome — 
some of which are still standing, amid the 
ruins and desolation of paganism, trium- 
phant chroniclers of the faith of gone-by 
ages. Hence I reason thus : The sanctity 
of the Church is derived, in great measure, 
from the sanctity of her worship and her 
sacrifice. Her worship — tending to God 
alone — is holy. The sacrifice of her altars 
is more holy, not only than those of the Ju- 
daical covenant, but the most holy that can 
possibly be imagined — since it offers to the 
Father, not the blood of animals, but his 
only Son, a spotless and divine victim, in 
the mystic sacrifice of the mass. Who, 
therefore, can tell the infinite degree of 



ZENOSIUS. 175 



sanctity to which the Church is borne, the 
ineffable and divine hght with which her sa- 
cred altars are irradiated, upon which is of- 
fered so august a sacrifice ? How beautiful 
are thy tabernacles, O Jacob ! how lovely 
are thy tents, O Israel ! — but how infinitely 
more holy, venerable, and glorious, are thy 
altars, Church of the Redeemer ! 

^' The sanctity of the Church is derived 
not merely from the doctrine, sacraments, 
and sacrifice of the new law ; but there 
must be found within her pale, a visible and 
practical holiness in, at least, a portion of 
her children : and this, too, in an eminent 
degree, and of a character which cannot be 
mistaken. She must, consequently, produce 
great saints, who will cultivate all kinds of 
virtues, and who, by their perfection, will 
throw the lustre of edification upon all 
around them. This may be easily demon- 
strated. Christ promised to send, and ac- 
cordingly did send, the Holy Spirit, who is to 
remain forever in the bosom of the Church, 



176 ZE N S lU s. 



to exercise his power, and diffuse his gifts. 
That Spirit is styled Holy, because he is 
the author of holiness. He inflames, with 
the fire of charity, the hearts of the faithful 
— sheds a divine energy upon them, by 
which they may practise the most sublime 
and difficult virtues. This holy charity can- 
not remain inoperative in the Church — and 
there being always a multitude of faithful 
souls disposed to receive the divine impres- 
sions, it necessarily follows that there must, 
at all times, exist a multitude of saints in 
the Church. 

" We have only to read the annals of the 
Church, to behold the names of countless 
saints to whom she has given birth. In the 
first age, we find that almost all were saints 
— insomuch that the terms Christians and 
saints became, in some sense, synonymous. 
Even the jealousy and malevolence of the 
pagans could not allege any crime against 
them ; their virtues were acknowledged, ad- 
mired, and envied, by their very enemies. 



ZENOSIUS. 177 



How many millions of martyrs cheerfully 
laid themselves down on the altar of perse- 
cution, and shed their blood in vindication 
of their principles and tlieir consciences ! 
The mystic fold was crowded with holy pas- 
tors — the deep bosom of the solitude con- 
tained a countless number of holy anchorites 
— the sanctuaries of religion were adorned 
by infinite choirs of virgins — there have 
flourished numberless just men of all condi- 
tions, the tenor of whose lives was modelled 
after the divine precepts, and finished ac- 
cording to the exact rule of Christian per- 
fection. 

" It is true, that, after the persecutions 
ceased, and the Church began to be tran- 
quilly diffused throughout all nations, heroic 
sanctity became less frequent, I will even 
admit that scandals — wide-spread and la- 
mentable — occurred. But peruse the his- 
tory of the Church in all ages, and you will 
find that saints were not wanting; among 
whom even Calvin, in his Institutes, does 



178 ZENOSIUS. 



not hesitate to rank Cyprian, Augustine, 
Gregory, and the luminary of the middle 
ages, Bernard. And what is most worthy 
of observation is the fact, that there has al- 
ways flourished a greater number, in propor- 
tion to the corruption and darkness of the 
times; because then the Church stood more 
in need of their salutary influence and shi- 
ning example. 

" And, at the present period, it is impera- 
tively incumbent on the faithful to become 
saints. I do not pretend to assert, that sin- 
ners are all excluded from the visible pale 
of the Church ; this was the error of the 
Novatians, Donatists, and Pelagians — an er- 
ror evidently contrary to the Holy Scrip- 
tures : for the figures under which the 
Church militant is represented, in the sa- 
cred pages, are, at one time, a field, in 
which the cockle is confounded with the 
good grain — then, a net, in which all kinds 
of fish, good and bad, are taken — and again, 
a banquet, to which all, of every description, 



ZENOSIUS. 179 



are, indiscriminately, invited. For, although 
sinners — and, therefore, infirm and sickly- 
members — yet, having faith, inoperative 
though it be, they are united to the mystic 
head. This union does not, however, affect 
the sanctity of the Church, v^hich she claims 
by so many admirable titles. Nay, sinners 
themselves render manifest, by their justifi- 
cation, the efficacy of the means contained 
in the bosom of that Church, by which they 
pass from a state of iniquity to grace and 
reconciliation. And their conversion from 
evil to good — and their advances from right- 
eousness to perfection, are solemnly urged, 
and universally required. ' You shall be holy, 
for I am holy,'^ exclaims St. Peter, address- 
ing the faithful in the name of God. And the 
Redeemer himself exhorts us, through St. 
Matthew, to aspire to the hoKness even of 
the Most Holy — ' Be ye perfect, as your hea- 
venly Father is perfect.'^ And let it not be 
imagined, that this is a mere counsel adapt- 

1 1 Pet., chap. i. v. 16. 2 Matth., chap, v., v. 48. 



180 ZENOSIUS. 



ed to the ministers of the temple, and the 
inmates of the cloister. It is a precept 
binding all Catholics, of every condition, 
and profession in life. All are commanded 
to aspire to sanctity. If they do not, they 
may, indeed, retain the name, but they live 
in open contradiction to the spirit, of Cath- 
olicity. And what is the character of that 
sanctity to which we are bound to direct our 
energies ? It is divine charity — the friend- 
ship of our Creator, which consists in obey- 
ing the precepts of the gospel, in loving 
God above all things, and our neighbors as 
ourselves. This is the general definition of 
sanctity ; and from this no follower of Christ 
can be exempted. But to arrive at the per- 
fection of holiness, as far as that can be 
attained, demands sublime virtues, heroic 
exertions ; and they only, in whom these 
prerogatives are to be found, can be entitled 
to the immortal honors w^hich are paid to the 
memory of the saints. For Catholics, there- 
fore, in general, the observance of the com- 



ZENOSIUS. 181 



mandments of God and the Church, is all 
that is necessary. ' If thou wilt enter into 
life,' said the Redeemer himself to the young 
man, who inquired what he should do to 
be saved, ' keep the commandments.'^ God, 
therefore, exacts holiness of us all; that is, 
he requires that we should be in friendship 
with him, and observe his commandments. 
He requires that we should be faithful and 
punctual in the discharge of each of our va- 
rious duties ; and they only, who, after ex- 
amining their consciences, find that they do 
every thing in their power to fulfil those du- 
ties, to avoid grievous defects, to preserve 
their consciences pure and undefiled — they 
only, I repeat it, can be numbered among 
those who, even in the wide and general ac- 
ceptation of the term, are saints. While they 
who violate their duties, dishonor the holy 
Church, and render it a proverb and a fable 
to the unbelieving. God is a tender father, 
whose providence is extended over us all ; 

1 Mattli., chap. xix. v. 17, 

__ _ 



182 ZENOSIUS 



and we are his beloved children, whom he 
desires to render holy. He loves all ahke 
w^ith perpetual charity ; and, moved to pity 
at our helpless and miserable condition, 
draws and attracts us, as it were, to himself 
— giving graces to all, holding out to all the 
same inducements, and promising to all the 
same rewards. It is his holy will that all 
should be saved. ' He will,^ says the Apos- 
tle, * have all men to he saved, and to 
come to the knowledge of the truth.''^ By 
the effusion of his blood, and the agonies 
of his death, Christ has redeemed from the 
infernal powers all the children of the king- 
dom — acting with no partiality towards any 
people or tribe, but emancipating, alike, Jew 
and Gentile, Greek and Roman — in a word, 
all the nations of the earth. 

" He is infinitely beneficent and liberal in 
conferring all his graces, general and spe- 
cial. 'He enlighteneth every man,'' the Apos- 
tle St. John assures us, * that cometh into this 

1 1 Tim. chap. ii. v. 4. 



ZENOSIUS. 183 



world,'^ He stimulates all to noble exertion. 
He urges all to rally round his spiritual ban- 
ners. He sheds upon all the influences of 
the divine Spirit — enkindles for all the sun- 
light of faith — opens to all the fresh foun- 
tains of the sacraments — offers for all the 
unbloody sacrifice — delivers to all his vivify- 
ing v^ord — displays to all edifying examples 
— extends to all the custody of guardian 
angels. To all he imparts exterior im- 
pressions, interior inspirations, proportionate 
graces. He gives to his ministers, zeal — to 
governors of nations, vigilance — to judges, 
equity — to parents, mutual fidelity and af- 
fection — to children, obedience. He gives 
to the rich, charity — to the poor, patience — 
to the great, humility — to the low^ly, sub- 
mission. Find me, if you can, a state of 
life without its appropriate graces — its ne- 
cessary lights — its celestial favors. Show 
me a state of life for which the means of 
salvation are not at hand ; for which the 

1 John, chap. i. v. 9. 



184 ZENOSIUS 



doors of the churches are closed — the sanc- 
tuary is locked — the mysteries are not cele- 
brated — the sacrifices are not offered. Show 
me an individual to whom God is not clem- 
ent, benevolent, holy, and impartial. ' Ev- 
ery man^ we are told by the Apostle, * hath 
his proper gift from God ; one after this 
manner y and another after that,^ "^ 



CHAPTER XIII. 

FIRST DIM GLIMPSE OF THE VATICAN — ZENOSIUS AT 

THE SHRINE OF ST. CECILIA THE CAPUCHIN FRIAR 

THE CONSECRATED SOIL AND HOLY ATMOSPHERE 

OF ROME. 

Let not your radiant shapes desert the land : 

Michael, and thou, St. George, whose flaming brand 

The Dragon quell'd; and valiant Margaret, 

Whose rival sword a like opponent slew ; 

And rapt Cecilia, seraph-haunted queen 

Of harmony. 

Wordsworth. 

From his accidental, or rather providen- 
tial, association with the Greek Count, du- 

1 1 Cor. vii. V. 7. 



ZENOSIUS. 185 



ring the passage of the Alps, Zenosius had 
derived no httle instruction or edification. 
Within the gates of the capital of Lom- 
bardy they parted : — the nobleman lingered 
annong the monuments and classic scenes of 
a city in whose episcopal chair had sitten an 
Ambrose, in early times, and a Charles Bor- 
romeo, in more recent. Our pilgrim delayed 
not. His destination is Rome, and he must 
not tarry by the way. He journeys onward, 
attracted, as it were, by an irresistible mag- 
net, towards which all his affections pointed 
and tended, with trembhng and eager avid- 
ity. 

He draws nigh. From the summit of a 
hill he catches a glimpse — clouded and dis- 
tant, it is true, but yet a first glimpse — of 
the dome of the Vatican. An utter stran- 
ger, on the desolate waste of Campagna, 
yet feeling none of a stranger's loneliness — 
for, within the venerable gates of Rome his 
Mother dwelt ; not, indeed, his natural, but 
his spiritual, his ecclesiastical Mother — the 

" 15* -— 



186 ZENOSIUS 



Holy Catholic Church — Sancta Mater Ec- 
clesia. He knows how tenderly he will be 
received to her bosom, especially as he had, 
for so long a time, been ignorant of her mer- 
cies. He is now among her sons, she will 
love him as a son ; and, with a lavish boun- 
ty, will bestow upon him her graces and 
benedictions. 

He stands, at length, on consecrated 
ground — in the walls of Rome. And, as 
he cast his eyes around the scene so varied, 
so hallowed, and so wildering to his excited 
mind, Eirene, that blessed angel of peace 
who ever watched by his side, again ap- 
peared and said : 

" Zenosius, thou knowest me : I am with 
thee still — " 

" Holy angel, like Raphael by the side of 
Tobias, I find thee, in my need, a guardian 
and a guide. Eirene, speak.^' 

** Enter yon church, and after praying be- 
fore the tomb of the Saint under whose aus- 
pices it is dedicated, thou wilt meet another 



ZENOSIUS. 187 



friend. Ere thou quittest Rome, thou slialt 
see me again." Thus having spoken, she 
vanished into thin air. 

The Church to which he was directed 
was one of the most ancient in Rome, hav- 
ing been originally built by Pope Urban I. 
about the year 230, and repaired by Pascal 
I. in 821. It was sacred to the virgin-mar- 
tyr Cecilia, whose relics, translated from the 
cemetery of Calixtus, lie under the altar, en- 
cased in gold, silver, and crystal. As Ze- 
nosius advanced to the portico of this ven- 
erable temple, he could not but indulge in 
salutary musings. '' Here," he thought, '' is 
a church which has been dedicated to the 
worship of God, according to the faith and 
rites of the Catholic Church, ever since that 
period which even sectarians hesitate not to 
denominate the golden. The faith taught in 
its hallowed walls, so many centuries ago, 
is still taught here — the worship and rites 
then practised, are still practised. And thus, 
in very deed, I find myself, almost visibly 



188 Z E N O S I u s 



and tangibly, united in communion with the 
primitive Christians. Their rehgion was 
pure and true — ours is identical with theirs ; 
consequently, in embracing the faith of 
Rome, I have only gone back, as it was my 
duty to go back, to the faith of the Apos- 
tolic ages." 

Approaching the altar, he surrendered his 
heart to meditation and devout prayer ; and, 
with indescribable fervor, recited the follow- 
ing hymn in honor of Saint Cecilia, which a 
peasant boy had handed him, at the shrine 
of the blessed martyr. 

" Rome gave the virgin martyr birth, 
Whose memory hath fill'd the earth : 
And in the early dawn of youth, 
She fix'd her heart on God and Truth. 

" For, though Valerian had sought 
To make her his — she yielded not : 
But, strengthen'd by an angel bright. 
To heaven she pledged her solemn plight. 

1 Ego, Valeriane, in Angeli tutela sum, qui Virginitatem meam 
custodit, &c. {Brev. Rom.) 



ZENOSIUS. 189 



" Then, from the world's bewildering striftJ, 
In peace she spent her holy life ; 
Teaching the Organ to combine 
With Voice, to praise the Lamb divine. 

" But, jealous of her Virgin dower, 
The Prefect, clad with threatening power, 
Bade her, forthwith, her Faith deny. 
And with the pagan rites comply. 

" Most firmly did her heart withstand ; — 
She smiled upon the fell command 
To plunge her in a bath of fire. 
There to be tortured — and expire. 

" But there the Virgin felt no pain ; 
Though night and day did she remain : 
When, fired with vengeance, with a blow 
The Lictor laid the Martyr low.^ 

" Cecilia, with a two-fold crown 
Adorn'd in heaven, we pray, look down 
Upon thy fervent votaries here. 
And hearken to their humble prayer." 

1 Eo in furore concitatus est (Praefectus) ut earn in ipslus aedes 
reductam in balneo combiiri jusserit quo in loco, cum diem noc- 
temqae ita fuisset ut ne flamma quidem illam attingeret, &c. 
ilbid.) 



190 ZENOSIUS 



He had hardly finished reading this hymn, 
when a Friar of the Capuchin order, with a 
hoary beard flowing to his breast, and a fig- 
ure and deportment which bespoke, at once, 
the man of lofty character, under the coarse 
and unseemly habit of an humble rehgious, 
addressed him : 

'' I see thou art a stranger in this our me- 
tropolis of the Christian world. Command 
me while thou tarriest among the tombs 
of the saints, and the monuments of the 
past." 

'' Thou art too kind, venerable father," 
returned Zenosius ; *' yet, as thou hast con- 
descended to make the offer of thy services 
to me, a pilgrim from a far-off land — " 

^' I was not mistaken — come, then, my 
son, and follow me." 

They left the shrine of St. Cecilia togeth- 
er, and proceeded to the Grove of Egeria, 
where, in sight of the broken statue of the 
goddess, amid the sear and hoary trees nod- 
ding over the waters that yet leap from the 



ZENOSIUS. 191 



fountain, they passed the day in antiquarian 
Christian researches. 

'' Rome," said the Friar, '' is, beyond 
doubt, a city of martyrs. Every mound, 
without the walls, may be said to cover 
some body, while the stones of the city press 
upon innumerable remains. Truly hath Pru- 
dentius sung : 

" Vix fama nota est, abditis 
Quam plena Sanctis Roma sit ; 
Quam dives urbanum solum 
Sacris sepulchris floreat. 

" Fame scarce can tell the treasures which 
Lie hidden in the walls of Rome ; 
How blest this glorious soil, how rich 
With many a sacred, unknown tomb. 

'' This reflection is calculated to inspire, 
with religious awe, the sincere Christian, 
who comes to contemplate, with sentiments 
of faith, the vestiges of those times of trial 
and persecution, when the most painful and 
shameful death was considered glorious by 



192 ZENOSIUS 



the champions of the Cross, whose memories 
the Cathohc Church reveres. Their num- 
ber surpasses all calculation. The Poet 
whom I just now cited, in an address to 
his friend Valerian, asserts that, 

" Within the walls of Rome, 

We see the ashes of unnumber'd saints : 

If thou wouldst learn their names or titles all 

Engraven on their tombs — I cannot tell : 

For, entire nations of the Just have been. 

By impious fury, immolated, when 

Troy's offspring, Rome, her ancient gods adored. 

Yet, there are monuments on which the name, 

Or some inscription still may be descried. 

But of the greater part, the marble mute 

Gives to our anxious questions no response. 

And I myself remember to have seen 

No less than sixty bodies in one fosse. 

Their names are known to no one but to Christ, 

With whom, in endless friendship, they are join'd.^ 

'' These blessed martyrs were held in the 
highest veneration by the surviving Chris- 

1 De Coronis, Hymn xi. 



ZENOSIUS. 193 



tians ; and their relics and blood were, with 
tender and sacred care, gathered and pre- 
served. Of this Saint Hilary/- bears testi- 
mony, in his work against the Emperor 
Constantius •} ' Everywhere,' he declares^ 
' has the blood of the martyrs been saved, 
and their venerable bones offer daily a new 
testimony.' And Saint Gaudentius : ' We 
keep their blood, which is a proof of their 
martyrdom.'^ 

" When one of their brethren was arrest- 
ed, and carried to the place of execution, in 
defence of the Catholic Faith, — the Faith of 
Rome, — thousands, bound to him by the ties 
of one common creed, and one universal 
bond of fraternal charity, followed him, of- 
fering every office of kindness, evincing 
every token of respect, actuated by the pu- 
rest sympathies of religion. This beauti- 
ful trait in the primitive Catholics of Rome 

1 Sanctas ubique beatornm martynim sanguis except^is est, et 
veneranda ossa quotidie testimonia sunt. (Cap. 8.) 

2 Tenemus enim sanguinem, qui testis est passionis. (Page 
339, Edit. Card, auirin.) 

~™17 



194 ZENOSIUS. 



did not escape the due commemoration of 
the sacred muse of Prudentius : 

" Then might you see whole cities, oft, 
In anxious hurry, gathering round : 
Beneath the martyr, strewing soft 

Sweet herbs, and dressing every wound. 

" That Christian hastes the gash to kiss 
Deep made by rough and iron claws ; 
Nor feels aught of repugnance : this 
To lick the purple blood that flows. 

" Many their linen garments steep 

With oozing blood, which carefully, 
As a protection blest, they keep. 
And leave to their posterity.^ 

" Thou hast come, then," continued the 
Friar, ^'to the cemetery of the martyrs. The 
very atmosphere of Rome is redolent with 
the sweet odor of sanctity, which will linger 
in it, in spite of ruin and change. Thou 
breathest it — and thy yearning spirit, re- 

1 De Coronis, Hymn v. 



ZENOSIUS. 195 



freshed and invigorated, must feel its bliss- 
ful influence. The pontifical See, surround- 
ed with the tombs of martyrs, confessors, 
and saints of every age, as well as with the 
ruins of pagan grandeur and magnificence, 
stands, before the nations of the earth, a 
sublime and imperishable beacon of truth — 
a beacon, erected by omnipotent power on 
the shores of the ocean of time ; on which, 
strewn with the fragments of human institu- 
tions, it casts a steady and inextinguishable 
light, which is destined to blend in heaven 
with the * splendors' of eternity." 



196 ZENosius. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

ROME THE SEAT OF THE POPES THE BLESSINGS 

OF THE PAPACY THE LITANY DELLA CONSO- 

LAZIONE IN THE COLOSSEUM OBJECTIONS AGAINST 

THE POPES STORM AND CALM. 

Thou, mighty Rome, -through whose sonorous aisles 

The stream of sacred liturgy still flows. 

And stays not day or night its tuneful coarse, 

And Eucharist incessant, and the springs 

Of meek austerity, art thou not 

Upon (mr insular iwide, and ribald tongues. 

Our wide-spread heresy and worldly pomp 

And weak presumptuous poverty of faith, 

On this, our humble and disjointed Church, 

O art thou not most visibly avenged ! 

Faber^s Sir Lancelot, 

This j&rst conversation being concluded, 
the amiable Capuchin conducted Zenosius 
to visit the principal monuments of Rome. 

*' Whithersoever we direct our steps," 
he observed, "the eye falls upon trophies of 
Catholic victory over paganism and error. 
The very columns, and triumphal arches — 
to say notliing of 'the Colosseum, the Pan- 
theon, and the temple of Vesta — ^^be speak 
the fostering and protecting care of the Ro- 



ZENOSIUS. 197 



man pontiffs. For, not only have they been 
converted into religious purposes, but they 
have been rescued from the destruction of 
time, and the rapacity of invasion, by the 
power of their influence. Yes, this is the 
home of the Popes — the successors of Peter 
and Clement — the visible heads of the Church 
— the Fathers of the Christian world. This 
is the dwelling-place of that wonderful suc- 
cession of Pastors, whose vigilance, zeal, 
munificence, and piety, have been celebrated, 
not only by Catholic eulogists, but likewise, 
by Sectarian and even Infidel admirers. 
* If the papal power,' writes an eminently 
distinguished and prejudiced author, of the 
former class, ' had not been adapted to the 
condition of Europe, it could not have ex- 
isted. We have only to look at the Abyssi- 
nian and Oriental Churches, to see what 
Europe would have been without the Pa- 
pacy. It was morally and intellectually 
the conservative power of Christendom : 

politically, too, it was its savior. For, in all 
__ __ 



198 ZENOSIUS-. 



probability, the West, like the Ea&t, must 
have been overrun with Mahommedanism, 
and sunk >m irremediable degradation, if, in 
that crisis of the werld, the Roman Church 
had not roused the nations to an united and 
prodigious effort, ^commensurate with the 
danger."^ 

^' Acknowledgments of this kind, forced, 
by facts, from the very reluctant, though, in 
this case, manly concession of so great a wri- 
ter, should be regaarded as a sufficient con- 
futation of the slanders and misrepresenta- 
tions so flippantly alleged against the Papal 
See," remarked ^enosius. 

'^ I will not forget to str^igthen these ad- 
missions of an enemy of the Catholic Church, 
by another, emanating from a more subtle 
and elegant foe of Christianity itself: ' The 
perpetual correspondence of the Latin cler- 
gy, the freq^jent pilgrimages to Rome and 
Jerusaiem, and the growing authority of the 
Popes, cemented the union of the Christian 

1 Dr. Son they. 



ZE NO S ITJ S. 199 



repxiblics, and gradually produced the simi- 
lar and common jurisprudence, which has 
distinguished from the rest of mankind the 
independent and even hostile nations of mod- 
ern Europe !'^ 

"The general and enduring blessings^ which, 
before the Reformation, were spread over 
the Catholic world, must be referred rather 
to the Papacy, than to the Popes, individual- 
ly considered. The divine founder of the 
Church never contemplated the impecca- 
bility, or even infallibility, of the individuals, 
apart from their office and the high functions 
they were destined, as a body, to discharge. 
As the Church is the source of all sanctity 
and grace, independently of the merits or 
demerits, the virtues or vicesy of her lawful 
ministers, &o the Papacy is the conservative 
principle of Christianity, although some of 
the incumbents in the chair of Peter may 
not have left on the page of history the 
character of virtue,, and moderation, and 

1 Gibbon^ Decline and Fall of the R^man Empire^ chap, xxxvii. 



200 ZENOSIUS. 



piety, by which the majority, however, have, 
unquestionably, been renowned. Let not the 
enemies of Rome, therefore, declaim, in ex- 
aggerated misrepresentation, against this or 
that Pope — Gregory the Seventh, or Alex- 
ander the Sixth. This declamation can have 
no more weight in the disparagement or con- 
demnation of the Papacy, than that of the 
Infidel — who does not see exemplified 
in many of the avowed disciples of 
Christianity the virtues it inculcates — 
against the whole scheme of divine Reve- 
lation, 

^' But as to the special objections which 
Sectarianism has urged against the sovereign 
Pontiffs, if a brief review of them would be 
agreeable to you, perhaps this would be as 
favorable a moment as any other, to take 
them into consideration." 

'* I pray thee not to pass them over, ex- 
cellent Father, Ere I have the honor of 
kneeling at the feet of the Vicar of Christ, 
teach me to revere, more and more, the ex- 



ZENOSIUS. 201 



alted dignity and primacy which I honor and 
beheve." 

" Come then, my son, and let us repose — 
as we converse — under the shadow of the 
Colosseum, which has witnessed the sack of 
Rome by more barbarians than Attila, and 
whose time-honored walls, in their ruined 
grandeur, could they speak, would add their 
voice in commemoration of the majesty and 
sanctity of the Papacy. See, the autumnal 
sun is throwing his last rays upon the bro- 
ken arches and desolate pillars of the pride 
of Vespasian. The Litany Delia Consola- 
zione^ is chanted on the spot where the 
gladiators met in sanguinary contest, and 
Polycarp of Smyrna was devoured by wild 
beasts ! Let us join in the canticle of tri- 
umph !" 

" Hail, Mary, hail ! O maiden mother, hail ! 
In thankfulness I lean upon the thought 

1 There is a chapel in the Colosseum dedicated to the Blessed 
Virgin ; it belongs to a confraternity called Delia Consolazione^ 
who, at stated times, perform their religious exercises in it. 



202 Z E N S I u s 



Of thy mysterious chastities ; unsought 
Comes the sweet faith, thy prayers can never fail 
In that high heaven where thou hast been assumed. 
And with this hope my spirit newly plumed 
Strives upward, like a weary dove in sight 
Of her last refuge, steering by the light 
Wherewith thy name hath silently illumed 

The church below 

I, on penance cast, 
Till patient yearning should retrieve the past, 
May bless thee for the succor of thy ray. 

Hail, Mary, hail ! 
Hail thou that art the haven of the heart, 
Accessible in lower moods — a veil 
Obscuring not, but gifted to impart 
New aspect of the Cross, though sin erase 
That sign from heaven, before our downcast eyes, 
Which fall on thee, its sweet reflection lies 
Like a soft shadow, in a moonlit place. 
. . . . O wondrous mother, pray 
To thy dear Son who does our sins away.'" 

Their devotions being concluded, the Ca- 
puchin resumed : 

1 Faher^s Sir Lancelot, The reader must remember that the 
Rev. Frederick William Faber is Protestant Rector of Elton. 



ZENOSIUS. 203 



'' Our adversaries, seeking, it would ap- 
pear, in every circunnstance connected with 
the customs of Rome, objections against the 
Head of our Church, close their eyes upon 
the precedents which existed in the ancient 
covenant, and which were regulated by Je- 
hovah himself. 

" The very title is obnoxious to them — 
and they accuse him of arrogance in as- 
suming the epithet of Siimmus Pontifex — 
supreme Pontiff. And, nevertheless, this 
very title was given to the Jewish High 
Priests by Almighty God, as we read in the 
book of Leviticus : The Loi^d said unto 
Moses : the High Priest, that is the Priest 
greatest among his brethren, . . he shall not 
uncover his head.} The title is frequently 
repeated in the books of Maccabees, and in 
the gospels, in the words Summus Sacerdos 
— supreme Priest. If, then, this epithet 
was permitted in the old law, why not allow 
it in the new ? Especially as the Pontiff of 

1 Chap, xxii., v. 10. 



204 ZENOSIUS 



the latter is much more excellent, and greater, 
than the High Priest of the former. 

'^ They object to the pomp and splendor 
of the Pontifical vestments. And yet we 
know that the Pontiff in the Old Testament, 
by the peculiar institution of the Almighty, 
wore purple, hyacinth, golden bells, and 
other ornaments on his sacred garments — a 
golden tiara on his head — twelve gems on 
his breast— and two precious stones set in 
gold on his shoulders. Why do they not 
find fault with all this luxury in the Syna- 
gogue of the Hebrews, before they lavish 
their censure on that of the Vatican. Da- 
vid's expression : I loved the beauty of thy 
house, is a much more proper motto for 
Christians, than the hypocritical cant of Ju- 
das : why all this waste ? 

" They object to his wealth and temporal 
power. But without reason. For it is 
manifest, that the Jewish Pontiff was much 
more wealthy— and this by the appointment 
of Heaven. He received the tenth of the 



ZENOSIUS. 205 



tithes of the Levites : the first-fruits, first- 
born creatures, and offerings of all the peo- 
ple. Surely if the Pope were to receive 
annually the tithes of all the Christian 
world, and the tenth of the tithes of all ec- 
clesiastics and monks ; if he were to receive 
the first-fruits and offerings of all the faith- 
ful, he would, perhaps, be somewhat richer 
than he now is. If, then, God wished the 
Pontiff of the Old Testament to be thus 
enriched, why should the Pontiff of the New 
be envied the title which he possesses. 

'' They object to the authority which he 
exercises in the Christian Church. Here they 
resemble the Hebrews who brought against 
Aaron a similar accusation. But God declared, 
by the interposition of his miraculous pow- 
er, that he wished the people to be obedient 
to him. What do we desire ? We cannot 
all be superiors — it is necessary that some 
one should preside ; if he be the Roman 
Pontiff, why do we molest him ? It is in 
consequence of our blindness and infirm- 



18 



206 ZENOSIUS 



ity that we are always prone to find fault 
with something. 

'' They object to his glorying in the suc- 
cession of Pontiffs in the Roman Church. 
But this is no fault. For, in the Old Testa- 
ment, likewise, the succession of High 
Priests was preserved, and, by a special 
miracle, confirmed by the Almighty. He 
willed that the succession should be con- 
tinued in the tribe of Levi, and should not be 
transferred to the other tribes. And to pre- 
serve the memory of this, in a most solemn 
manner, he caused the rod of Aaron, and of 
no other tribe, to sprout forth of a sudden. 
They who institute a new ministry, not in 
due succession as recognised by the Church, 
resemble Jeroboam, who appointed Priests 
not of the tribe and succession of Levi. 
(See 3 Kings 12.) 

" They object to the celibacy of the Cath- 
olic priesthood. Have they examined the 
discipline of the ancient Jews on this head ? 
Let them read the law concerning Priests 



ZENOSIUS. 207 



when engaged in the functions of the altar, 
and as the Cathohc Priests are daily in the 
discharge of their most holy functions, let 
them not be condemned for perpetually ob- 
serving a regulation prescribed, at times, by 
the founder of the Ancient Testament. 
Saint Paul has left an advice, w^hich should 
not be forgotten by the members of the 
sacred ministry to v^hich he belonged : I 
would (v^rites that Apostle) that you were all 
like myself, I say unto the unmarried and 
widows, it is good for them if they thus re- 
main, even as myself. And he assigns this co- 
gent reason : He who is without a wife, is so- 
licitous about the things which are of God,^^^ 
" Would that the opponents of the su- 
premacy of the Roman Pontiffs could be 
induced to seriously consider the fallacious 
grounds of these objections," said Zenosius. 
" Would that they could be persuaded to 
sacrifice — as by the aid of God's grace I 
have done — vain prejudice to solid argument." 

I 1 Cor., chap, vii., v. 7. See Becanus, j3nalog-ia, &c. 



208 ZENOSIUS 



" False impressions," subjoined the Friar, 
'' are a fatal obstacle to the advancement of 
truth. Ere its dominion can be extended, 
they must be destroyed : and it is only by 
patient research, and impartial reasoning, 
that Sectarians will be induced to cast off, 
as erroneous and pernicious, what they were 
once — even as thyself — taught to cherish as 
salutary and undoubted. And besides in- 
vestigation, besides conviction, courage is 
required to overcome human respect, to tri- 
umph over public opinion, and to sacrifice 
notions and misapprehensions, which were 
identified with their earliest education and 
associations. Sectarianism hath, indeed, been 
lashing the wild passions of the world into a 
violent storm of prejudice and hostility against 
the Mother-Church ! But that storm — like 
the hurricane on the ocean, that sweeps, with 
terrific rapidity, over the raging deep and 
wastes itself away — must be succeeded by 
tranquillity and calm. 



Z E N S I u s . 209 



Comes there not, when the storm is o'er, 

A beauteous, bright tranquillity 1 
When the wild winds have hush'd their roar, 

Is there not peace upon the sea 1 

The Holy Catholic Church, which hath 
survived all the revolutions of eighteen cen- 
turies, will flourish on, and be victorious 
over the powers of earth, and the gates of 
helir 



18* 



210 ZENOSIUS 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE SABBATH-MORN ON THE SEVEN HILLS ONE 

FAITH ONE SACRIFICE THE CAPUCHIN's DIS- 
COURSE IN THE BASILICK OF SAINT JOHN LATE- 
RAN CHAINS AND GLORY. 

Odelon. — Oui ; aussi, loin d'etre anges, ne sommes-nous que 
des creatures douees de sens, et vivant dans un monde physique 
et accommode a ces sens. Ne nous servons-nous pas des choses 
et des moyens exterieurs dans toutes circonstances ou le simple 
raisonnement ne suffit pas 1 Pourquoi done repousserions-nous, 
dans le circle de la religion, un moyen si propre h. exciter des sen- 
timens religieux ? 

Baron de Starck, Entretiens Philosophiques. 

It is Sunday morning. And sweetly does 
it smile, from the chambers of the glowing 
east, upon the glittering domes of the City. 
Deep and solemn is the sound of innumera- 
ble bells, swinging their mingled peal o.ver 
the Seven Hills. The streets are thronged 
with early worshippers, pressing to the holy 
sacrifice of the altar. What a pleasing and 
consohng spectacle ! All are children of the 
same Catholic Church — there is here no dis- 
cordancy of feeling, no diversity of opinion : the 



ZENOSIUS. 211 



minds of all are filled with the same divine 
principles and convictions of faith, arid their 
hearts animated by the same religious devo- 
tion. Blessed unanimity, w^hich, before the 
spirit of disorder insinuated itself in the 
breasts of the misguided and deluded, reign- 
ed over the w^hole world, and made all 
Christians, of all nations, one harmonious and 
happy family. O, that the day may soon 
arrive, when that truly Catholic unity may 
again prevail : when schism being laid aside, 
and repented for, by those who have been 
guilty of it, the lost and wandering sheep, 
hearing the voice of the good shepherd, will 
return to the fold, and the halcyon days of 
primitive Christianity will be restored to the 
earth, so long afflicted by dissensions, and 
torn by heretical feuds. 

On leaving the Colosseum, last evening, 
an arrangement had been made by the venera- 
ble Friar, to meet Zenosius in the Basilick of 
Saint John Lateran, where a splendid cele- 
bration was to take place, and a discourse 



212 ZENOSIUS. 



on the external worship of the Catholic 
Church, to be pronounced by himself. Ze- 
nosius, at the stated hour, repaired to that 
ancient church, joined, with ardent devotion, 
in the sublime and beautiful ritual, and lis- 
tened, with rapturous satisfaction, to the ser- 
mon of the Capuchin, who spoke in the fol- 
lowing terms : 

" Man is composed of soul and body, of 
intellectual and sensible faculties, of external 
and internal relations. As he is bound to 
refer his entire being to God, his supreme 
master, therefore, it follows, as an undenia- 
ble consequence, that besides internal^ there 
is due to God external, worship. Hence 
the construction of churches — hence sacri- 
fices, prayer, canticles, altars, and the whole 
train of sacred functions, which constitute 
the apparatus of exterior worship. And yet 
these rites and ceremonies, so venerable and 
so important, have excited the opposition of 
not a few, as superstitious and unwarranta- 
ble. In vain do we unfold the parchments 



Z E N S I u s . 213 



of antiquity, and exhibit the testimony of 
the Fathers of the primitive times, vindicat- 
ing the majesty of our temples, the splendor 
of our altars, the pomp of our festivals, the 
joyous peal of a hundred bells ringing in ex- 
ultation, while the long and glittering pro- 
cession bears through the streets of our gor- 
geous capital the consecrated host. There 
are, in some countries, and more especially of 
late years, numberless Christians who regard 
such outward displays as idle, and even de- 
rogatory from the sublimity and dignity of 
true rehgion. But the Catholic, after a pro- 
found investigation of the subject, is con- 
vinced, that external worship was always 
practised — and he is led to the conclusion : 

that THE EXTERNAL WORSHIP OF THE CHURCH 
IS NECESSARY TO KEEP ALIVE BOTH RELIGION 

AND MORALITY. By external worship, I 
mean a language of action, ordained to re- 
present, in a sensible manner, the dogmas 
and miaxims of religion ; with the conjunction 
of certain ceremonies and formulas of prayer 



214 ZENOSIUS. 



containing a compendium of the principal 
articles of faith. Now, such worship is 
necessary : for, man, a material and corpo- 
real being as he is, hath need to be supported 
by sensible signs, in order to measure the 
greatness of things which he sees not, by 
those which he sees. Take away the sup- 
port of sensible signs, and he will see no- 
thing that is spiritual. Give him but an 
imperfect sign of an invisible object, and of 
that he will form but an imperfect idea. For 
this reason it is, that sovereigns appear ar- 
rayed in majesty and glory, in order to im- 
press on the minds of their subjects a great 
idea of their dignity. So it is with the 
Eternal Sovereign of the World, whose at- 
tributes form the object of our faith and 
practices. A temple is a permanent sign, 
which makes us remember the majesty of 
God. An altar is a sign by which we are 
reminded of the gratitude we owe him, and 
the sacrifice of our goods and persons we 
should make to his service. The sacred 



ZENOSIUS. 215 



functions, celebrated with magnificent ap- 
parel, and harmonious canticles, indicate the 
greatness of the Being to whom they are of- 
fered. The whole Liturgy is but a constant 
allusion to the dogmas and moral of revealed 
religion. The veneration paid to the saints, 
those friends of God, but the ultimate term 
of which is the Divinity himself, attracts, 
with great utility, the attention of the faith- 
ful : and the brilliant virtues with v/hich 
they have illumined the Church, present a 
stimulus for their admiration and imitation. 
The sacred images which are exposed to the 
respect of the people — not, indeed, as if 
containing any virtue in themselves — are so 
many glorious memorials of the heroic sanc- 
tity of those whom they represent. The 
solemnities and festivals of the Church are 
wisely distributed among the different sea- 
sons of the year. The principal points of 
the life of Jesus Christ and his most holy 
mother, and the anniversary of the happy 
passage into heaven of the Apostles, and the 



216 ZENOSIUS. 



most famous heroes of Christianity, are cele- 
brated with becoming pomp, calculated to 
animate the faithful to thanksgiving, com- 
punction, and perseverance. Even the fu- 
neral ceremony, which brings before the 
eyes the sad procession wending its meas- 
ured way to the consecrated cemetery, there 
to consign the remains of a Catholic, amid 
prayer and solemn lustration, to the peaceful 
grave, awakens in the pensive soul a pro- 
found conviction of the nothingness of the 
present, and the incalculable importance of 
the future. 

'^ Who, then, will deny that the ceremo- 
nial worship of the Church is not only a 
strong support of Religion, but, likewise, a 
powerful means of propagating it. How 
many instances are there not of individuals 
in view of the sacred functions, rising from 
sin to grace ? How many from the dark- 
ness of Infidelity have passed into the light 
of Faith ! History abounds with such ex- 
amples. And could it be otherwise ? If, 



ZENOSIUS. 217 



by means of material signs, Idolatry was 
preserved through so many ages, with in- 
finitely more reason do similar signs conspire 
to the perpetuation of the true reHgion ? 
And, in effect, what is it that has thrown 
into oblivion so many errors of past centu- 
ries ? As soon as the Church began to re- 
present the Saviour of the World in the 
arms of his mother, there was heard a uni- 
versal cry. Mate f Dei — Mother of God — and 
all the errors against the humanity of the 
Word were hushed in silence. The form of 
baptism, iu the name of the Most Holy 
Trinity, and the doxology at the end of every 
psalm : Glory be to the Father, and to the 
Son, <^c., confounded all the subtleties of 
Arianism. The people understand the lan- 
guage of action, better than that of reason. 
Figures, symbols, things materially express- 
ed, enter more easily into their minds, and 
there take a deeper root. The very sacra- 
ments, are they not material practices ? The 
laver of baptism, which remits original sin ; 

19 



218 ZENOSIUS 



the bread and wine, changed into the body 
and blood of Christ ; the imposition of hands, 
which confers ordination ; these constitute 
an essential part of true religion. 

" Hence, from the earhest period of her 
existence, the Chmxh instituted and prac- 
tised external ceremonials. The magnifi- 
cence of her temples — the pomp of her sa- 
cred functions^— the pubKc veneration of the 
remains of her martyrs, an'H of pictures re- 
presenting the deeds of her champions in 
the faith, and the lugubrious ceremonies 
with which she inters her dead, can be 
traced up to the first ages, and continued 
even during the most calamitous times of 
the persecutions, when the Christians fled, 
with their worship, into the caverns and cat- 
acombs of the earth. From the most an- 
cient and authentic monuments, we learn, 
that they used Hghted candles, incense, flow- 
ers ; and on the tombs of some of the mar- 
tyrs erected altars, and ofl'ered the sacrifice 
according to the rites which have been trans- 



ZENOSIUS. 219 



mitted to us. They regarded the rites of 
this exterior worship as so necessary, that 
they assembled together to celebrate them, 
notwithstanding the prohibitory decrees of the 
Emperors, and in imminent danger of their 
lives. And so essentially identified with the 
substance of religion were these external 
objects of worship considered by the ene- 
mies of the Christian name, that their first 
attacks, when their power prevailed, were 
aimed at the altar and the sanctuary. They 
reeked their vengeance on the sacred images 
and venerable reliquaries, — prostituted the 
holy vessels, — interdicted the august solemni- 
ties, — and laid bare and desolate the holy places 
where the Priests of the Most High once of- 
fered their sacrifices, and propitiated the ire 
of heaven when excited by a guilty people. 

" It is the boast of the Catholic Church 
to maintain an habitual regard for religious 
convictions, by means of external signs. 
And ample proof might be adduced, that 
the energy of the former is essentially weak- 



220 ZENOSIUS 



ened by the subtraction of the latter ; and 
there is introduced into the mind, in their 
stead, a disposition of moral lethargy, and 
religious misbelief. AVith the destruction 
of external worship, the vigor of rehgious 
influence hath always withered, and impiety 
hath sprung up with its pernicious effects. 
Under this conviction it was, that our ances- 
tors in the faith, during those ages of piety 
and munificence, which, alas ! seem never 
again to be hoped for, reared to the clouds 
the spires of so many cathedrals, each 
crowned with the emblem of salvation — the 
Cross peering to the heavens. Within their 
venerable precincts, God was adored, and the 
saints invoked. Niches were filled with 
statues— ^walls were covered with paintings 
— altars were raised of massive stone, de- 
coratedVith Christian munificence — and the 
sacrifice of the Mass was offered amidst the 
glare of waxen lights, and the clouds of fra- 
grant incense, and the solemn chant of Priest 
and people. 



ZENOSIUS. 221 



'' The moral effects of these ceremonial 
practices must strike, with admiration, every 
impartial observer, and every reflecting read- 
er of history. They kept the faithful bound 
together, as it were, by a chain of external 
relations, and inspired them with sympathy 
and good-will. They added lustre to the 
conduct of the great and the intellectual, 
Vv^hile they softened and refined the hardy 
manners of the rude and unlettered popu- 
lace. These functions grew out of Chris- 
tianity, and as Christianity is Charity, so they 
were fraught with the spirit of holy charity. 
All tended to fraternal love — and the grand 
scope of all was the encouragement and ex- 
altation of the virtues. In what other exer- 
cises, or places, did the faithful mingle to- 
gether as much in the character of brethren 
as in the churches ? where did they derive 
such ideas and convictions of right, duty, 
truth, as amid the circumstances which sur- 
rounded them, in those consecrated walls ? 
What could have supplied their places ? I 

" 19* 



222 ZENosius. 



will ask. Not the pageant and distraction 
of the theatre ; not the gayety, the vanity, 
and the festal assemblage of ball or banquet. 
No ; it was under the massive arches of the 
churches, in presence of the altar, amidst 
tombs and mausoleums, sacred images and 
hallowed statues, among which the venera- 
ble memories of ancient faith and practices 
were preserved and cherished, that men were 
made to act as men, and Christians to ob- 
serve the duties of Christians. There the 
Prince learned to govern his people wdth wis- 
dom and moderation — there the people were 
taught submission and order. There all met 
on an equal footing* The eternal attribute 
of man's nature — freedom — was there vin- 
dicated. For, all artificial distinctions of the 
world being there dispensed with, while all 
alike knelt in prayer before the sanctuary of 
the Most High, the humblest peasant felt 
the dignity of his being — and the mightiest 
Monarch his insignificance before Heaven. 
Both cast up their eyes to the same crucifix, 



z E N s I u s . 223 



partook of the communion at the same altar, 
were elated with the expectation of the same 
future rewards, and terrified at the mena- 
ces of the same future punishments. Hence 
pride was humbled — humility raised up — 
hope nourished-— contrition awakened — and 
virtue, of every description, encouraged and 
enforced. 

" Even pilgrimages, which the pen of dis- 
ingenuous history hath delighted, it would 
seem, in describing as immoral and perni- 
cious, were productive, when considered 
through a proper medium, of happy and re- 
ligious consequences. For, while devout 
travellers met together in thousands at the 
shrine of the Apostles, or at any other place 
to which they might have been attracted, 
they met to extinguish hatred, pardon inju- 
ries, strengthen social affection, form friend- 
ships, distribute alms-deeds, and become 
■ntimately associated with the ministers of 
'ieligion, by whom they were comforted in 
rheir sorrows, counselled in their doubts, 



224 zENosius. 

and encouraged in their virtues. Crowds 
of devoted pilgrims, coming together from 
every nation, united as brethren in Jesus 
Christ, and all their national predilections 
and local antipathies were sacrificed, in the 
midst of pious exercises, on the altar of love 
and peace. From the centre of devotion to 
which they were drawn, they departed, back 
to their various and distant homes, renewed 
in fervor, quickened in piety, and strength- 
ened in faith. 

" And do we not ourselves, when we assist 
at some solemn celebration of the Church, 
experience the salutary effects of external 
worship ? Doth not the majesty of our 
ceremonies — every one bearing upon it the 
venerable impress of antiquity — excite in 
our breasts a sentiment of intense devotion? 
When we remember that our ancestors, dur- 
ing all past ages, revered them with a holy 
and profound conviction, and regarded them 
as necessary aids and inducements to the 
sincere homage of the heart, without which 



ZENosius. 225 



they — and we — are perfectly aware, that they 
would degenerate into mere superstition. 
Yes, the external rite resembles the human 
body : which is formed with admirable pro- 
portions, and moulded by the infinite skill of 
the Maker, but which is nothing without the 
soul that animates and warms it. So the 
splendor and magnificence of our external wor- 
ship must be animated by the spirit of true 
levotion — must tend to the Omnipotent, 
whom alone we adore* For, otherwise, in 
the language of Christ : Tlie flesh profiteth 
nothing ; it is the spirit that quickenethr^ 

At the conclusion of the service, the Ca- 
puchin invited Zenosius to visit the ancient 
church of St. Peter ad Vincula, which was 
erected in the fifth century, under the pon- 
tificate of Gregory the Great. 

/' Before concluding thy pilgrimage at the 
tomb of the Apostles," he said, " it will be in- 
structive for thee to view the shrine where are 
preserved the chains wherewith the Chief 

1 John, chap, vi., v. 64. 



226 zENOsius. 



of the College was bound. Thou wilt there 
impress more deeply on thy soul what Christ 
once solemnly inculcated on his disciples, 
that the way to everlasting life is a thorny 
and narrow way, beset with temptation, and 
strewn with sufferings. There, too, the un- 
speakable triumph of the Church over the 
Synagogue will strike thy mind with awful 
admiration. One of the lowliest members 
of the latter — an unlettered and unknown 
fisherman — ^hath been the instrument of the 
complete prostration of her pride and glory, 
and of the miraculous elevation and consoli- 
dation of the power of the former. A Jew, 
taught and inspired by the Son of Joseph, 
sees his master crucified, and glorified — 
contemplates the completion of all his pre- 
dictions — forsakes Jerusalem, which was 
destined to be reduced to desolation — es- 
tablishes his abode, and erects his spiritual 
throne, amid the glare of Rome ; — Rome, 
which, changed from the capital of pagan 
superstitions into the centre of Christian 



ZENOsius. 227 



unity and faith, is, eighteen hundred years 
after his death, the seat of his successors, 
and the metropohs of the Church*" 

" Thou hast made mention of the Syna- 
gogue," returned Zenosius, '* in connection 
with the Church. Is there not a close and 
striking analogy between the one and the 
otlier ? Some further explanation on this 
subject would be thrice w^elcome. Father." 

" It shall not be withheld from, thee, my 
son." 



CHAPTER XYI. 

THE SYNAGOGUE AND THE CHURCH THE FALL OF 

SOLYMA NIGHT, THE MOON ON THE SABINE HILLS. 

Edouard. Je suis tellement confondu de ce que je viens d'en- 
tendre, que je n'y trouve aucune espece de r^ponse a faire. 

Baron de StarcJc. 

'^ Having made this subject a long and 
separate study," the learned Capuchin con- 



228 zENosius. 



tinued, '' it will not be deemed arrogance on 
my part to accede to your wishes, and com- 
municate to you the result of my reading on 
this question. In the Synagogue, as in a 
Republic, three things are to be considered. 
First, the collection of men in it. Secondly, 
the external government. Thirdly, the in- 
ternal affection by which the members are 
united to their superior, as their head. The 
two former are visible. The third is invisi- 
ble. For, with our eyes we see the mem- 
bers and the head, the external pohty and 
government ; but we ca mot see the internal 
affection which each one hath, or ought to 
have. In the Synagogue, there was a visi- 
ble collection of Jews — there were, likewise, 
sacrifices, sacraments, external ecclesiastical 
government, purifications, oblations, and sim- 
ilar Mosaical ceremonies." 

'' There is a strong resemblance between 
the Synagogue and the Christian Church," 
remarked Zenosius. '' It is easy to perceive 
the mother and the child," 



ZENosius. 229 



" I would rather say, and the Catholic 
Church," observed the Friar, emphatically. 
" The Catholic and Christian Church is the 
same, and, during sixteen hundred years, 
the distinction now made was unheard of. 
That this is the belief of all who preserve 
any veneration for antiquity^ is certain, as 
they claim the glorious epithet. As to the 
resemblance between the Synagogue and 
the Church, on the subject of visibility^ it 
must be discovered by any careful observer. 
Christians constitute a visible body— the 
government of the Church is visible. Her 
prelates teach, exhort^ govern^ j^dge, pun- 
ish, administer the sacraments. They are 
all bound together by internal faith and cha- 
rity. Thus, with as much propriety do we 
say, the Synagogue was, and the Church is, 
visible, as we say thy glorious Republic is 
visible to the whole world.'^ 

^* I do not think there can be much cavil- 
ling on this first character," added Zeno- 
sius — 

20 



230 ZENOSIUS 



" On the hill sublime 

The city, destined to survive all time, 
Was founded, visible to every eye, 
TowVing, through ages, to its kindred sky. 

'' But there is another, and a much more 
difficult point, extremely worthy of our in- 
vestigation. It is, whether the Synagogue 
tver erred in faith.^'' 

*' A truly important topic this," remarked 
the Friar. " For if it ever did) I am sure, 
in that respect, it would have been but a 
poor prototype of an infallible Church." 

" And yet, if I am not mistaken, the Lu- 
therans and Calvinists maintain that it did 
fall into error. Is it not true ?" asked Ze- 
nosius. 

" They do maintain this point," he re- 
plied. " And in order to substantiate their 
opinion, they adduce four different epochs 
when, they say, the Synagogue erred. First, 
in the time of Moses, when Aaron and the 
people adored the golden calf.^ Secondly, 

1 Exod., chap, xxxii. v. 4. 



ZENOSIUS. 231 



in the time of Elias, when that prophet 
alone remained faithful, as he himself com- 
plains.^ Thirdly, in the time of Isaias and 
Jeremiah, when Israel did not know God.^ 
Fourthly, in the time of the passion of Christ, 
when the whole Synagogue expired with all 
its ceremonies. 

" Now, it is not true that the Synagogue 
erred in the time of Moses ; but only a part 
of it. For Moses, the Levites, and the 
Priests, remained faithful, as appears from 
Exodus,^ w^here it is stated the sons of Levi 
were true to their God. And the sons of 
Levi numbered twenty-two thousand.^ 

" The second assertion, that in the time 
of Elias and Jeremiah it erred, requires a 
distinction. For two different kingdoms ap- 
pertained to the Synagogue : one of Judah, 
and the other of Israel, which consisted of 
ten tribes. The latter fell from the true 

1 3 Kings, chap. xix. v. 14. 

2 Isaiah, chap. i. v. 3. Jerem., chap. ii. v. 13. 

3 Chap, xxxii. v. 25, 26. 

< Numb., chap. iii. v. 39. 



232 zEi^osius 



faith from the beginning, under King Jero- 
boam, and began pubhcly to adore idols ; 
and in this state they continued until the cap- 
tivity.^ Nor did they all fall into idolatry 
For Elias tells as, that when he imagined he 
was the only true adorer of God, he re- 
ceived an answer from above, assuring him 
that there were seveh thousand men in Is- 
rael who had not bent their knees to Baal. 

" In the kingdom of Judah, it was different. 
For some of its kings were good and faithful 
adorers of the true God; others were wicked 
and idolatrous. But in the temple of Solo- 
mon, the use of sacrifices always contin- 
ued until the Babylonish captivity, as we 
learn from the second book of Macchabees,^ 
where it is related that the priests of that 
time hid the fire taken from the altar in a 
valley, where there w^as a deep and dry 
well. That is to say, the fire sent down 
from heaven, which the priests used in the 

1 3 Kings, chap. xii. v. 19^ and 4 Kings, chap. xvii. v. 22, 23, 

2 Chap. i. V. 19. 



ZENosius. 233 



daily sacrifices — and that fire was preserved 
in the temple until the Jews were carried 
away into Persia.^ 

^' It is true that the Synagogue expired 
in the time of Christ — not, indeed, by swerv- 
ing from the true faith which it had always 
held, but because then it was repudiated 
with its ceremonies and sacrifices ; and in 
its place was substituted the Church of Je- 
sus Christ. There are five things to be 
considered in the Synagogue. First, the 
Mosaical law. Secondly, the prophecy con- 
cerning Christ. Thirdly, the priesthood and 
legal sacrifices. Fourthly, the supreme ju- 
diciary power which resided in the High 
Priest and the council. Fifthly, the infalli- 
ble assistance of God annexed to that power. 
When and how they all expired, if it be not 
encroaching too much upon your patience, 
I will explain. 

'* The Mosaical law, with regard to its 
obligation, was abrogated at the death of 

1 Levit., chap. ix. v. 24. 



234 z E N o s I u s . 



Christ, as St. Thomas teaches.^ For then it 
lost its power of obhgating ; — for then the 
veil of the temple was rent asunder, and 
then Christ declared, Consummatum est — 
All is consummated. Whence it follows, 
that before that event, the Mosaic and 
Evangelic laws were both in vigor : after 
it, only the Evangelical law. 

" The prophecies concerning Christ were 
manifold. Some respecting his coming into 
this world ; others respecting his doctrines 
and miracles ; others respecting his death 
and resurrection ; — of course, they all ex- 
pired when those events were fulfilled which 
they foretold. 

" The legal sacrifices were abrogated by 
the death of Christ. And this particularly 
with regard to the bloody sacrifices in which 
animals were offered. For they were the 
figures or shadows of the bloody sacrifice 
by which Christ was to be immolated on 
the altar of the Cross. At the approach of 

1 1, 2, qua?st. 103, etc. 



ZENosius. 235 



this sacrifice, it was necessary for the others 
to expire ; as, at the approach of the hght, 
darkness disappears. The supreme judi- 
ciary power, with the divine assistance at- 
tached to it, doth not seem to have entirely 
expired at the same moment ; but succes- 
sively, and, as it were, by parts. For, it is 
certain that Christ possessed greater judi- 
ciary power, and a more plentiful assistance 
of God, than the high priest in the Old Tes- 
tament, according to the text of St. Mat- 
thew : All power is given unto me in hea- 
ven and on earth} 

" The divine assistance was gradually 
withdrawn ; as can easily be proved in 
those councils which were celebrated, after 
the nativity of Christ, by the pontiff and 
priests. 

" There were principally three. The first, 
in the time of Herod, when the Magi came 
to Jerusalem. The second, at the time Laz- 
arus was raised to life, to inquire what was 

1 Chap, xxviii. v. 18. 



236 ZENOsius. 

to be done with Christ, who was \vorking 
such miracles. The third, at the time of 
the captivity of Christ, when he was sen- 
tenced to death by Caiphas. In the first, 
the divine assistance continued entire ; in 
the second, it was diminished ; in the third, 
altogether withdrawn. The decision of the 
first, which specified the place where Christ 
was to be born, according to the prophets, 
was infallible. But they said to them : in 
Bethlehem of Juda, &cc} The High Priest 
Caiphas, in the second, declared that Chri 
should be put to death, to prevent the whole 
Jewish nation from perishing.^ In one re- 
spect, indeed, he erred ; in the other, he did 
not : for, he spoke partly from hatred, in a 
human manner, and partly from the inspira- 
tion of God. He erred when he adjudged 
the innocent one to be guilty of death — but 
not when he predicted that Christ w^as to 
die for the salvation of the people. When, 
in the third, the Priests sought false wit- 

I Matth., chap, il v. 4. 2 John, chap. xi. v. 47, 51. 



L^L 



ZENosius^. 237 



nesses against him^ who accnsed him of 
crimes, and when sentence of death was 
pronounced against him — He is guilty of 
death; the assistance of God was entirely 
withdrawn from them, and they were in- 
spired by the father of hes."^ 

'' It is not difficult, then, to remark the 
resemblance between the Sjmagogue and 
the Church," said Zenosius. " Nor should 
it shock the feelings of Christians to see 
the latter laying claim to the prerogative 
which existed in the former." 

"Especially," added the Friar, "as all 
acknowledge, that the Synagogue was the 
figure of the Church, and the figure should 
not be more perfect than the thing figured. 
In many points was the Church represented 
by the Synagogue. As the Synagogue was 
established by Moses, so was the Church 
by Jesus Christ; the one the servant, the 
other the immaculate child, of God.^ As 

1 Matth^ chap. xxv. v. 59. 2 John, chap. viii. v. 44. 

3 Hebr., chap. iii. v. 5, 6. 



238 zENosius. 



Moses was the first visible head of the Syn- 
agogue, so was Jesus Christ the first visible 
head of the Church he established on earth.-^ 
As the Synagogue, after the death of Mo- 
ses, was always governed by a visible head, 
viz. the High Priest, so, likewise, was the 
Church, after the death of Christ,^ by the 
Roman Pontiffs. As the Synagogue had 
sacraments, sacrifices, and other ceremonies, 
so also hath the Church the same. As the 
Synagogue was visible in its external gov- 
ernment, so likewise is the Church in hers. 
'' And, besides, Moses was the figure of 
Christ : — the analogy is remarkable under 
many points of view. Both were born in 
a foreign land : Moses in Egypt ; Christ in 
Bethlehem. Moses was placed in a basket ; 
Christ in a manger. Pharaoh persecuted 
Moses and the infants of the Hebrews in 
Egypt ; Herod persecuted Christ and other 
infants in Bethlehem. Moses led the peo- 
ple forth from the land of bondage ; Christ 

I Eph., chap, v., v. 23. 2 John, chap. xxi. v. 17. 



ZENosius. 239 



from the slavery of the Devil. Moses led 
them through the Red Sea;. Christ leads his 
through baptism. Moses was the Mediator 
of the Old Testament; Christ of the New. 
Moses gave the ancient, Christ the new, 
law. Moses fasted forty days ; so, like- 
wise, did Christ. Moses instituted seventy 
elders ; Christ, seventy disciples. Moses 
sent twelve spies" into Egypt ; Christ, twelve 
apostles into the w^hole world. Moses 
wrought miracles with his wand ; Christ, 
many more with the w^ood of his cross." 

'* The details of this analogy are singu- 
larly striking, indeed," observed Zenosius, 
'' and though I had often perceived the gen- 
eral resemblance, never did it present itself 
to my mind as completely as at present. I 
should now like to hear in what manner the 
Church may be considered more perfect 
than the Synagogue." 

" This can be done without much diffi- 
culty," returned the Friar. " For the Syna- 
gogue w^as the mere handmaid, the Church 



] — ■ 

240 giENOSiUS 



is the spotless spouse, of Christ.-^ The for- 
mer was to be rejected in the end ; the lat- 
ter was never to be set aside.^ The Syna- 
gogue had Prophets and Priests, through 
whom God spoke ; the Church speaks di- 
rectly through the incarnate Word, Jesus 
Christ,^ The Synagogue was confined to 
Palestine ; the Church is Catholic, that is 
to say, spread over every part of the world .^ 
Thus it is evident that while the Synagogue 
was a faithful prototype of the Church, it 
was far less perfect. We are living in the 
light — the full meridian light — which arose 
from on high ; the Jews were under a cloud, 
and only tending towards the accomplish- 
ment of the great things prefigured by the 
ancient law. If, therefore, the Synagogue 
was ever visible and infallible, it follows, 
a fortiore, that the Church must be so like- 
wise. 

1 Gal., chap. iv. v. 31. 2 Isaiah, chap. liv. v. 4. 

3 Heb., chap, i. v. 2. 

4 Mark, chap. xvi. v. 15, Kom., cnap. x. v. 18. See Becanus, 
^nalogia. 



ZE N S lU s. 241 



" The discussion of this analogy between 
the Jewish Synagogue, which in its origin 
was divine, and the Cathohc Church, which 
has been substituted in its place, brings to 
my mind a poem written by a foreign mis- 
sionary, on the destruction of Jerusalem, 
which I cannot forbear to repeat to thee ; 
and I do it the more willingly, as I have, 
ere this, discovered that thou hast a culti- 
vated mind, as well as an upright heart." 

" No one can be more fond of the sacred 
muse than I am, Father," responded Zeno- 
sius ; " and a theme of this grand and ter- 
rific character, I feel, is worthy of the most 
lofty strain." 

The Capuchin then recited the following 
lines : — 

" From the high tops of Sinai 

The voice of God resounds : 
The earth is shaken — and the sea 

Swells o'er its ancient bounds : 
Throughout the plains afar, deep rolls 
The thunder, roaring round the poles. 

21 



J42 ZENOSIUS. 



"' Whence comes this uproar from the sky — 

This elemental noise ? 
God speaks — and from eternity 

All things obey his voice : 
Dark Erebus his proud head bends, 
As earth the eternal vengeance rends. 

" He sounds amid the astonished air, 

Amid the fleeting wind, 
And not a whisper, for or near, 

Is heard, of any kind. 
Save that which breathes of vengeance dread, 
While Sion bows her trembling head. 

" 'Tis time to avenge the ancient crime — 

The perfidy which hung 
The Just One on the Cross — 'tis time — 

Heaven's wrath on old and young 
Must soon be spent — the Sun shall fail, 
And Nature, once again, shall quail ! 

" Armies in numerous ranks arrayed 

Are sometimes not the sign 
Of triumph — oft their power displayed 

Is struck by wrath divine — 
And like a flock of sheep they're driven 
Before the dreadful ire of Heaven. 



ZENosius. 243 



" As if amid the April air — 

The zephyr's gentle breath — 

A whirlwind, fraught with fell despair, 
Should rage and scatter death ; 

So suddenly did wrath o'erwhelm 

The fated, lost Jerusalem ! 

" Her garments rent — her figure lorn — 
Sion's sad daughter weeps : 
And well in sackcloth may she mourn 

As ruin o'er her sweeps ; 
And as she thinks of ages blest — 
The foeman's sword is at her breast. 

" The ways of Sion, dark and lone, 
So pompous once and bright — 
In solitary sorrow groan, 

'Mid desolation's night : 
The Princess is a captive now, 
The widow's wreath is on her brow. 

" Gone is the fire that burn'd within 
Her breast that once beat high : 

Pale on her cheek her once fair skin — 
Tears swell her once meek eye. 

Ah me ! how changed — her joy is spent ; 

Her fate — are grief and banishment. 



244 ZENosius 



" Where is the pride of Solyma 1 

And Jacob's glory, where 1 
Gone from the scene — their brilliant day 

Is wrapt in darkness drear : 
And ruin's mantle folds their pride — 
Their power and loveliness have died. 

" The aged men — their hoary hair 

Sprinkled with ashes-^-lie 
Prostrate upon the earth — and there 

Bound with rough fetters, sigh : 
The virgins squalid, in their grief, 
Weeping around, know no relief. 

" Where, wretched Solyma ! is now 
The blossom on thy cheek 1 
Where now the bright and healthful glow 

Which late thy joy did speak 1 
The Rose that lately bloomed upon 
Its stem, hath withered in the sun, 

" The wreath hath perished which, of late, 

Thy scented hair entwined : 
Thine eye — once joyous, seems by fate 

Made miserably blind : 
For, now no more doth it behold 
The heavens that looked so bright, of old. 



zENosius. 245 



" The famished Babe puts forth his tongue 
Craving the longed-for food : 
But finds less favor than the young 

Beasts of the solitude. 
In vain they scream — no hand is there 
To rescue, snatch them, from despair. 

" Beneath the battering-rams, now fall 
The august citadels ; 
And the once formidable wall — 

While blood in torrents swells — 
And, raging with unyielding ire, 
Sweeps o'er the whole, avenging fire. 

" No longer in the waters calm 

Of blest Probatica, 
Doth sickness find a healing balm :— 

That too hath pass'd away ; 
But from its banks the mingled cry 
Of wo, is echoed to the sky. 

" No longer do the spreading groves 

Of sacred Olivet 
Invite the wanderer, as he roves, 

To rest his wearied feet ; 
Upon their branches swinging high, 
The wretched victims ffroan and die. 



21 



246 ZENosius. 



" The hallowed temple, where, of yore, 
For countless ages past, 
The sons of Judah loved to adore, 

Is mid the ruin cast ! 
That gorgeous, venerable pile, 
Is now a heap of ashes vile. 

" He who the fatal sword escapes, 

By flying from the foe, 
Is whirled amid the flame that sweeps 

O'er the wide scene of wo : 
And on the Father's bosom lie 
His gasping children — and there die. 

" Vain is the mother's loud lament, 
Her daughter's shrieks are vain — 
The vows of priests are vainly spent; 

To hear Heaven will not deign. 
Earth with the countless victims groans, 
And the air echoes with their moans. 

" All things are riven by the wrath 

Of the Eternal — who 
Passeth in vengeance — and his path 

Is strewn with mighty wo : 
And in one dreadful ruin fall 
The altar, city, temple — all. 



ZENosius. 247 



" The bulwarks totter — vain their strength— 
Their ancient strength gives w^ay ; 
And lo ! the splendid Queen — at length — 

Of nations, without sway. 
The sea with every plague allied, 
Rolls o'er the land its vengeful tide. 

*' The tiger, mid the desert wild, 

Roaring for human food. 
Is not as cruel — nor defiled 

With the foul stain of blood, 
As are the foes of Sion dread, 
Piling with heaps on heaps, the dead* 

" For the Eternal hath his arm 

Bared with relentless wrath ; 
He fills the nations with alarm — • 

And from his quiver hath 
Drawn forth the arrows of his might 
'Gainst those who once were his delight, 

" There are who, with malignant pride, 

Insult the fallen state 
Of that once glorious Queen — deride 

Her melancholy fate — 
Laugh o'er the woes of her who wore 
The sceptre of the world before* 



248 zENosius 



" And as the exulting passer-by 
Looks on the captured Queen, 
He raises a malignant cry : 

How glorious hath she been ! 
But now Jerusalem lays low 
Upon the earth her conquer'd brow ! 

" Where now are the prophetic songs 

Sung by her fathers old 1 — 
Which banished with their nations' wrongs 

All darkness — and foretold 
The pride of Jacob and his race 
In this once blessed, now cursed place ! 

" Where now the rock immoveable, 

The temple which was deem'd 

Eternal 1 — oh what tongue can tell 

What bloody torrents streamed. 

Because the impious dared to rise 

Against the counsels of the skies. 

" No human hand profane hath been 
The cause of all these woes ; 
E'en Titus, when along the scene 
His marvelling gaze he throws. 
Declares his innocence — and shrinks 
Aghast, as on her fate he thinks. 



z E N s I u s . 249 



" No — rend the dark mysterious veil— • 

Which hangs o'er Israel's fall, 
And while with horror ye turn pale — 

God's Justice shines through all. 
Learn, mortals, as her fate you read. 
To adore the Eternal — and to dread. "^ 

The effect of this sublime recitation on 
the heart of Zenosius — amid the massy ruins 
of the pagan metropolis, and the gorgeous 
monuments of Catholic Rome — in sight of 
the arch of Titus, and the arch of Constan- 
tine — may be, without difficulty, conceived 
by the reader, capable of grasping the mighty 
subject, and of appreciating the majestic flow 
of versification in which it was couched. 
He could not, without effort, restrain his 
emotions. 

Night now closed over the scene. The 
young moon's crescent hung over the Sa- 
bine mountains, as in the days of Numa 
and Hostilius. The Tiber rolled along its 

1 This admirable poem is an original translation from the Ital- 
ian of the Rev. S. Santelli, formerly a missionary in Michigan, 
and now in Corsica, his native island. 



250 ZENOSIUS 



muddy waters, which were hardly tinged 
with the silvery beams, as when the lyric 
Poet sang of the inundation of its banks, 
and the undermining of the temple of Vesta. 
Silence reigned on the hills, and in the city : 
and Zenosius parted with his venerable 
friend, to meet, on the morrow, in the 
Vatican, at the shrine of St. Peter and 
St. Paul. 



ZENOSIUS. 251 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THE iELIAN BRIDGE THE TOMB OF PAGANISM THE 

VATICAN THE PROMISE OF CHRIST TO PETER AND 

HIS SUCCESSORS THE CAPUCHIN's LAST WORDS TO 

ZENOSIUS THEIR SEPARATION. 

Unum cjEteris praeponi necesse est ad evitanda schismata et ad 
dissentiones tollendas .... Imo ipsi duodecim Apostoli vix satis 
inter se convenissent, nisi unus caeteris praefectus fuisset. 

Cow ell, quoted by the Baron de Starck. 

It is necessary that one should be placed over the others, in 

order to avoid dissensions and schisms The union among 

the Apostles themselves would not have been so strong, if one 
had not been appointed to preside over the others. 

As Zenosius wended his way, early in 
the morning, towards the BasiUck of Saint 
Peter — where his pilgrimage was to be con- 
cluded — he paused on the iElian Bridge^ 
to contemplate the tomb of Hadrian ; which 
he could not help regarding as the tomb of 
paganism. For, that mighty mausoleum of 
the Roman Emperor is now, and has been, 
during many past centuries, the strong for- 

l Now called the Bridge of St. Ang-elo. 



252 z E N o s I u s . 



tress of the Roman Pontiffs. And it was 
over this monument that the angel of God 
sheathed the sword of Heaven's wrath 
against the capital which was to be blest, 
through future ages, as the sanctuary of his 
mercy .^ Musing upon the wonderful des- 
tiny of this city of the Pagan Emperors 
once, and now of the Cathohc Popes, he 
finds himself in the magnificent court of St. 
Peter's. Gladly leap the fresh and exhaust- 
less fountains into the air. Proudly, like a 
solitary column left to stand alone in iso- 
lated grandeur, rises up the Egyptian obe- 
lisk. Beautifully sweeps, on either side of 
the area, the semicircular range of marble 
columns : and the eternal Basihck itself — 
the wonder of the world — the pride and 
glory of Rome — the enduring monument of 
Catholic faith, and Papal munificence — rears 

1 During the time of a fatal plague that laid desolate the city 
under the pontificate of Gregory the Great, that holy Pontiff 
caused processions to be made through the streets ; and is 
said to have beheld an angel sheathing his sword over Hadrian's 
tomb — to signify that the vengeance of the Eternal was ap- 
peased. 



ZENosius. 253 



to the clouds her golden dome, and pierces 
the heavens with her triumphant cross. 
Thousands of persons — prelates, priests, ca- 
nons, monks, nobles, plebeians — were hur- 
rying in and out of the massive and magni- 
ficent portals. From the crowd issued his 
faithful guide — the meek and earnest Capu- 
chin. 

" Father, I am here !" exclaimed Zeno- 
sius ; '' unworthy to approach so nearly the 
threshold of that temple, whose doors have 
opened and shut upon millions of faithful 
adorers." 

" Art thou not, now, a faithful adorer ?" 
asked the Friar. '' Yea, my son, the more 
tardy thou hast been in receiving the gift of 
faith, the more fervently dost thou cherish, 
and dearly appreciate, the august boon. Lo ! 
after all thy wanderings, the calm resting- 
place of thy anxious soul. Lo ! the termina- 
tion of thy pilgrimage. Thou hast reached 
the limen Apostolorum, to-day : to-morrow 
thou shalt kneel at the feet of the Father of 



22 



254 zENOsius, 



the Christian world, and receive his apos- 
tohc benediction. But, previously to thy 
obtaining tliis new and invaluable favor, sit 
thee down with me under the colossal statue 
of Constantine the Great, and listen to my 
final instruction. Thou readest, inscribed 
on the everlasting stones, the words and 
promise of Christ to Peter and his succes- 
sors : Tu Es Petrus — Thou art Pete?^ and 
upon this rock I loill build my Church, and 
the gates of hell shall not prevail against 
it} 

" When the Founder of the Church ad- 
dressed these memorable words to the fish- 
erman of Galilee, he laid the foundations of 
that edifice w^hich is to be immortal — he es- 
tablished that more than earthly throne, in 
which is to continue, to the end of time, 
notwithstaading the vicissitudes of human 
events, and the uncertainty of human life, a 
succession of Pontiffs, the representatives 
of Peter, and of Himself. The individuals 

1 IVlatth., chap. xvi. v. 18. 



ZENosius. 255 



.who are chosen to occupy that throne and to 
govern the Churcb, may, hke all other mor- 
tals, be removed by a common destmy — 
must, like the lowest of human kmd, yield 
to the inevitable and inexorable sentence of 
death. But, if they are mortal, the person 
whose place they hold is immortal ; the dig- 
nity which they enjoyed is everlasting ; the 
Church, the administration of which is in 
their hands, is to flourish to the ' consum- 



mation of ages.' 



" Yes, though the Prince of the Apostles 
was doomed to die — though, like his divine 
Master, he ended his life on a cross, when 
Linus ascended his chair, Peter lived in his 
successor. And after ' speaking through the 
mouth of Leo' when alive, He still presides, 
with his spirit of supremacy, in the vacant 
chair ; and will act, and speak, and govern, 
in the person w4iom Providence shall destine 
to wear the tiara. 

'' This extraordinary pre-eminence has 
been admitted in all ages. For, to hold the 



256 ZENosius 



next place, in the scale of dignity, to the 
Roman see, was a privilege for which An- 
tioch, and Alexandria, and even imperial 
Constantinople, contended. And to the de- 
cision of the Roman Pontiff, the wisest men 
have yielded with respect. Without his ap- 
probation, the combined wisdom of councils, 
no matter how respectable for the learning 
of those who composed, or how powerful, 
on account of the patronage of the great 
who supported, them, could have no effect, 
nor claim the submission of the Christian 
world. Without the approbation of Leo, 
the great predecessor of the present vener- 
able incumbent of the Holy See, the deci- 
sions of the Council of Chalcedon, which 
was composed of six hundred bishops, would 
have been null and void : nor could the fa- 
vor of princes, or the authority of the senate 
have rendered them of any value. Without 
the approbation of the sovereign Pontiff, the 
Councils of Rimini, Africa, Antioch, Con- 
stantinople, Milan, Seleucia, and the second 



z E N s lu s. 257 



of Ephesus, would have been not only not 
binding on the faithful, but could not even 
have claimed the title of legitimate. And 
how far does this authonty extend? Is it 
circumscribed by the Tiber, or the walls 
of Rome? Is it acknowledged in one 
kingdom, in one nation only ? The sov- 
ereign Pontiff among the Persians could 
not give laws to the cities of Egypt ; nor 
could the Pontiff of Egypt give laws to the 
Persians. Even the Roman Emperors, who, 
it is well known, united the diadem of the 
Prince with the tiara of the Priest, could 
not exercise their pontifical power over the 
Sarmatians, Germans, Sicambrians, Gauls, 
and other people who were subject to their 
crown : they could give laws, in matters of 
religion, to the Roman people only. But, 
of the Chief Pastor of the Christian Church, 
it may in truth be said, in the language of 
S. Bernard : ' His jurisdiction extends to 
the limits of the earth.' He not only num- 
bers under his spiritual authority more than 



258 ZENosius. 



under his temporal sway ; but, in regions 
the most hostile to his prerogatives, and to 
the religion of which he is the head, there 
are to be found multitudes bending to his 
power, and submitting to his supremacy : 
and of these, there are thousands among the 
Gentiles and the Turks. There never was 
a sovereign, whose dominion w^as recognised 
and respected among people so far apart, 
and rei]rions so various and so different. 
Where is the dignity that can be compared 
to that of the Roman Pontiff ! without 
considering the splendor of his court, and 
the titles, offices, prelacies, which depend 
upon his nod, ' like the branches from the 
tree,' to borrow the idea of St. Cyprian, 
' streams from the river, rays from the sun.' 
And even the princes of the world have 
deemed it an honor to receive their crowns 
from his hands. When Stephen, Prince of 
Hungary, and Bolislaus, Duke of Poland, 
contended for the regal crown, their dispute 
was referred to, and decided by, the then 



zENosius. 259 



reigning Pontiff, Sylvester II. From the 
hands of the sovereign Pontiffs, were re- 
ceived the crowns of Scotland by Edgar, of 
Russia by Daniel, of Poland by Wences- 
laus, of Portugal by Alphonsus, of France 
by Clovis. What shall I say of Desiderius, 
King of Lombardy, and Pepin of Gaul ? 
Did they not deem it an honor, while they 
were circling their brows with the fillet of 
temporal glory, to kneel and reverence the 
spiritual pre-eminence of Stephen and Zach- 
ary, the vicars of Christ. 

^•Far be it from me, to place in the hands 
of the Popes a temporal supremacy over 
the kingdoms of the world. I do not mean 
to defend the abuses of the power and in- 
fluence of some who filled the throne of the 
Vatican ; but I contend, that the very fact of 
their having been called upon so often as 
umpires in the contentions of monarchs, and 
of having, by their decision, so frequently 
effected what otherwise could not have been 
accomphshed but by blood and desolation, 



260 ZENOSIUS. 

speaks the sublime dignity which they were 
acknowledged to possess, and proclaims the 
veneration and profound respect that were 
justly paid to their character. 

'' But, how did they acquire this influence, 
and this extraordinary respect ? Was it by 
usurpation? If we examine the subject 
seriously, we shall be convinced, that the 
Pontifical authority resembles the vast ocean, 
which, without transgressing the bounds, 
which, in the beginning, were traced out for 
its waters, is enriched by the voluntary con- 
tributions of rivers, be they near or remote, 
be they grand or small. What the Pontiff's 
possess, they did not acquire by force of 
arms, but are indebted for all to the sponta- 
neous bounty of princes and people. And 
if, sometimes, it became necessary to have 
recourse to arms, it was, like Abraham, to 
defend their own, not like Holofernes, to 
usurp or molest another's. What was it, 
then, that induced so many nations, while 
free in every other respect, to become sub- 



ZENOSIUS. 261 



missive to the Por.triical Chair ? What mov- 
ed the heart of Constantine, the successor of 
Augustus, the Aiiionines, and the Trajans, 
to lay his diadem at the foot of the altar ? 
to yield to the successor of a Fisherman, 
the magnificent, and far-famed metropolis of 
the Empire, and of the World, the seven- 
hilled Rome ! What induced so many kings, 
of France, of Spain, of Germany, of Eng- 
land, of Italy, of Portugal, to cede whole 
provinces, to found so m.any monasteries, to 
erect so many churches, to endow so many 
establishments, all of which were so many 
columns supporting the throne of the Vati- 
can ? Were they actuated, could they have 
been actuated, by temporal motives ? Was 
it to obtain the favor, to secure the protec- 
tion, of the Roman Pontiff? But, what 
compensation could they have expected for 
the grants which they made ? Or, if inter- 
est could have impelled the benefactors of 
later ages, can it be supposed that such could 
have been the motive of those of the primi- 



262 z E N o s lu s. 



tive times, when llie Head of the Church 
was to be found, not amid the splendors of 
a throne, but concealed in the caverns of the 
earth, lingering amid the gloom of a prison, 
or condemned to the labors of the mines ? 
And still, at those very times, and under 
those humiliating circumstances, the most 
splendid patrimonies were offered them by 
the faithful, and the most glorious tokens of 
veneration and submission were given by 
distant monarchs. Eleutherius, notwith- 
standing the calamities of the period at which 
he lived, was honored by an embassy from 
Lucius, King of Britain : and Fabian re- 
ceived the homages of the two Philips, Em- 
perors of Rome. Who could have inspired 
the nations with this respect for the sove- 
reign Pontiffs, but God alone ! Was it not 
his right hand that established so vast, I 
might say, so boundless an authority, in so 
short a time ! and a pov/er so new and ex- 
traordinary, in times so adverse ! And when 
the powers of the world rushed to arms, 



ZENOsius. 263 



and the powers of darkness joined in the 
war, against this authority, to annihilate this 
throne, what arm but that of the Eternal 
could have supported it for so many ages, 
while the proudest monuments of human 
art and human glory, have crumbled in ruins 
around it ? 

^' The preservation of the Pontifical dig- 
nity, during so many ages, revolutions, and 
disasters, must be accounted one of the 
greatest of miracles. For, if it be true, that 
no authority has ever been so much honored 
by the world, it is equally true, that none 
has ever met with more opposition. Its op- 
posers, too, were generally the most potent 
of monarchs. In the first ages, they were 
the emperors of Rome ; then the emperors 
of the East ; afterwards the kings of the 
Eruli, the kings of the Ostrogoths, the kings 
of the Lombards, and the kings of the Sara- 
cens. Against the Roman Pontiffs a per- 
petual warfare has been carried on : often 
have they been stripped of their possessions ; 



264 ZENosius 



often have they been abandoned and opposed 
by those whose loyalty and submission the}^ 
could not have questioned. Princes, their 
children, prelates, their brethren, have some- 
times conspired, with their enemies, against 
them. They have been attacked by innu- 
merable sects, in all centuries : by the No- 
vatians, the Donatists, the Arians, the Pris- 
cillians, the Nestorians, the Albigeois, the 
Hussites, and others of a more recent date, 
which I need not mention. And yet, after 
so many adversities, so many revolutions, so 
many calamities, the Pontifical authority, 
which, says St. Augustine, ' ever flourished,' 
still continues to flourish unimpaired and 
unabridged. The more vehemently it was 
attacked, the more vigorously did it resist ; 
the more tyrannically it v/as oppressed, the 
more free and triumphant did it rise : and, 
having been more than forty times driven 
from the throne of their metropolis, more 
than forty times did the Pontiff's return with 
renovated glory, additional power, and in- 



zENOsius. 265 



creased majesty. They have humbled the 
refractory, subdued the fierce and embodied 
passions of entire nations, intimidated mon- 
archs, and checked the depredations of bar-^ 
barians. 

" It must not, however, be dissembled^ 
that on the throne of the Vatican, as on the 
chair of Moses, there have sat some fev^ 
men, unworthy the character which they en- 
joyed, and the dominion which they exer- 
cised. Men, if you choose, ambitious, 
avaricious, vindictive. But this circum- 
stance, instead of being a derogation from, 
is, on the contrar}^, a confirmation of, the 
dignity of the Catholic Pontificate. For, 
if not only its enemies, with arms in their 
hands, and calumny on their tongues, and 
malice at their hearts, but its own possessors 
could not, by their vices, obscm'e its lustre, 
or weaken its power, is it not a manifest and 
wondrous mark of the never-failing protec- 
tion of Providence ? Had all the Pontiffs 
been virtuous and sinless, the preservation 

23 """" 



266 ZENOsius. 



of their dignity might be attributed to moral 
prudence, human reason, or political arti- 
fice : but as this is not the case, must not 
that throne be founded on an eternal rock, 
against which neither ' the gates of Hell,' 
conspiring against the Pontiffs, nor the Pon- 
tiffs themselves conspiring with the gates of 
Hell, could ' ever prevail.' 

^' But, if it cannot be denied, that some 
of the Pontiffs were not free from vices, it 
is a fact which the acute researches of his- 
tory cannot controvert, that no Pontiff ever 
taught error, and that no sect ever produced 
a Pontiff. And is not this a triumphant ar- 
gument in favor of the Pontifical character ? 
When we retrace those ages, when the Hy- 
dra of heresy, more fatal and more formida- 
ble than the Lernean monster, had penetrated 
into the cloister, the sanctuary, and the pal- 
ace : when we consider how the election of 
the Popes had been clogged by the interfer- 
ence, and usurpation, of the Emperors, and 
how, after their elevation, they had been 



z E N o s I u s . 267 



tempted by bribes, menaced with the sword, 
and condemned to exile. And yet, during 
the lapse of eighteen centuries, never could 
they succeed in raising to the throne of the 
Vatican, an Iconoclast, a Nestorian, an Arian, 
a Priscillian, or any other Sectarian — a priv- 
ilege of which Rome alone can boast. For, 
while the most venerable and ancient patri- 
archal chairs were enveloped in the gloom 
of error, the pure, undiminished, ethereal, 
lustre of truth, has ever beamed on the chair 
of St. Peter. If Vigilius, the Eutychean, at 
the instance, and under the powerful aegis, 
of the Empress Theodora Augusta, at- 
tempted to grasp, by force, the sacred Tiara ; 
if the gallant Belisarius, the conqueror of 
the Goths, offered himself as the instrument 
by which to accomplish his object ; and if 
the ambitious Deacon succeeded in hurling 
from his seat the venerable Sylverius, and 
forcing him, an exile, into the island of Pal- 
maria, sjill, while Sylverius lived, — though far 
from the metropohs, — in him resided the char- 



268 ZENosius 



acter, in him existed the spirit, of Peter. 
Vigihus was an Anti-Pope — a Simon Ma- 
gus. When Sylverius died, the chair, 
though occupied by Vigihus, was vacant : 
and the conclave assembled to appoint a 
successor. Impelled by the iniquity of the 
times, or rather directed by that spirit which 
meant to afford to posterity a monument of 
his protection over the Chair of Peter, the 
Cardinals, regularly and solemnly, elected 
Vigihus. What was the consequence ? Did 
he persevere in his errors ? did he instantly 
issue from the centre of religion a bull in 
favor of the Eutycheans, of whom he had 
hitherto beeusthe fautor, and the representa- 
tive ? No ; — behold the finger of God ! No 
sooner was he invested with the legitimate 
character and authority, than he launched 
anathema against the sect which he had 
promised to support ; and not content with 
doing so by letter, he went in person to Con- 
stantinople, retracted his past errors, and, 
with a courage truly Pontifical, declared, 



z E N s I u s . 269 



that he was ready to wash them away, by 
the effusion of his blood. This was not all : 
he excommunicated the Empress, and de- 
served to suffer the hardships of exile and 
imprisonment in defence of the true Faith. 

" This is but one, yet a noble instance, of 
the triumph of the Pontifical character over 
the intrigues, and passions, and errors of 
men. I might adduce many others : I might 
show you a Gregory the Great, who, pro- 
moted through the influence of the Emperor 
Mauritius, with his characteristic intrepidity, 
vindicated the rights, the liberty, the inde- 
pendence of his See. I might show you a 
Felix the Second, who, exalted by Constan- 
tius, condemned him, as an Arian, with an 
unbending intrepidity. I might show you a 
Leo the Fourth, who, though indebted to 
the Emperor Lothaire, resisted his preten- 
sions, with a noble independence. I might 
name no less than nine Pontiffs, chosen 
from the East by the favor of the Ori- 
ental Emperors, with the view of rendering 
-_ 



270 ZENOSIUS. 



the Latin Church subject to the Greek, but 
no sooner were they on the Roman chair, 
than they maintained, with alacrity, and en- 
forced, with persever^mce, the pre-eminence, 
the supremacy, of the Roman See,^ I might 
name a Pius VII., over whose urn the Genius 
of Rome still bends in sorrow, who, after 
having placed the crown on the brows of the 
Emperor of France, dared to stand firm un- 
der his menaces, to oppose the boundless 
ambition of that despot, and merited, like 
Peter, to be imprisoned for the Church : 
manifesting to the world, that the spirit of 
fortitude and of wisdom still supports the 
truth, breathes into the bosoms of the Pon- 
tiffs, even at this day, and will continue to 
abide with them forever. 

'^ Everywhere doth the language of the 
Founder of the Church resound among us : 
' Thou art Peter, and upon this rock,' &c. But, 
with thee, my son, who hast mused amid the 
ruins of Pagan Rome, it penetrates, at once, 

1 The substance from Segncri. 



ZENOSIUS. 271 



the seat of feeling and conviction. The 
rock on which the Capitol reared its columns, 
in the days of Tully and of Flaccus, now 
stands like a fragment after a wreck. The 
immobile saxum hath been moved amid the 
earthquake of human things, and scathed by 
the lightning of ruin. The Colosseum hath 
been dismantled by the hand of depredation. 
The Arches of the Emperors frown in aw- 
ful decay. The Temples of Jove, ' the 
Tliunderer,' and the ' Avenger,' are traced 
only by a solitary,, and dilapidated column. 
The tombs of the Scipios, the mausoleum of 
Metella, the pyramid of Cestius, remain 
partly in ruins, partly entire, black with the 
rust of years, and almost covered with shag- 
gy ivy. The immortality which Paganism 
had promised to the glories of her metropo- 
lis hath proved — like every thing human — 
perishable. Amid this scene of heathen 
desolation, there hath continued to flourish, 
through time, and there still flourishes, at 
this day, over the wreck of ages, the throne 



272 ZENOsius 



which was estabhshed by Peter, in which 
have sat, and reigned, his successors, with- 
out interruption, down to Gregory XVI," 

Having concluded, the Capuchin embra- 
cing Zenosius, said : — '^ I bid thee an eternal 
adieu, young pilgrim-convert. If my con- 
versations with thee have been productive 
of any beneficial eflfect, all I ask, in return, 
is that thou would st remember me, when 
far beyond the Atlantic waters, in thy fer- 
vent prayers. Let thy mind be ever swayed 
by a docile submission to the Catholic faith. 
Be obedient to thy Holy Mother. Forget 
not that the spirit of submission, which hath 
animated the faithful, is, and hath been, the 
universal, and ever-blooming germ of unity 
and perpetuity. This spirit, it is true, can 
exist only where there is a continual evi- 
dence of truth — w^here there is an unceasing 
voice of divine authority. For, destroy that 
evidence, drown that voice, and the conse- 
quence must be doubt and discord. Look 
around, and thou wilt be convinced that 



ZENosius. 273 



there is no harmony, no unity, no consis- 
tency, among sects that have thrown off the 
yoke of authority — which is sweet indeed — 
but W'hich, nevertheless, requires that the 
pride of man should stoop. That pride w^ill 
disdain to stoop, should the error prevail that 
every man hath a right to think and act for 
himself, wdth as much freedom in religious^ 
as in worldly, matters. Division broke up 
the great masses of heresy, which, for a 
time, astounded the w^orld. Composed of 
the disorganic elements of human passion 
and caprice, they dissolved and went to 
pieces as those elements changed and drop- 
ped apart, until, amid the ruins of past ages, 
hardly a fragment of those once formidable 
structures can now be discovered. The 
elements of Catholicity, on the contrary, 
are unchangeable, everlasting : and these 
elements constituting the essence of the 
Church, she must necessarily be, and must 
continue to be, what she was in the beginning 
— in the days of the Apostles themselves." 



274 zENosius 



Zenosius kissed the venerable Friar, and 
they separated, — to meet no more. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

ZENOSIUS FINISHES HIS TASK AT THE TOMB OF THE 

" FISHEKMAN" RECEIVES THE BLESSING OF THE 

FATHER OF THE FAITHFUL HIS RETURN TO HIS 

HOME EUTHALIA A VESTAL OF RELIGION REST 

IN THE PEACE OF ROME. 

Tu vero gaudebis, post tenebras lucem videbis. 

Et signum Crucis splendebit in gloria lucis. 

Cum fide, et lege, unus Pastor, cum uno grege. 

Cited by Baron de StarcK. 

Thou shalt rejoice to see the light, when darkness hath pass'd by, 
And through that light the Holy Cross will beam upon thine 

eye : 
Then on the earth one only faith, one only law, shall reign, 
One only Pastor, and one flock, shall bless the world again. 

Never came to the threshold of the Apos- 
tles a more fervent convert than Zenosius, 
who now bends down, in lowly and prostrate 
orison, near the gorgeous, and ever-brilliant 



ZENosius. 275 



confessional. His task is done ! With pro- 
found faith, he recites the creeds of the 
Apostles, and of Athanasius. He pours out 
the rapture of his heart — its thanks, its grati- 
tude, its resolves — in a stream of bursting 
tears : tears of heavenly delight, such as 
the penitent, the converted experience and 
evince, but which it is not given to earthly 
language to express. He hath the consola- 
tion, w^hich, according to the declaration of 
one of the earliest Doctors, the monarch who 
ruled the earth and sea esteemed the great- 
est he could enjoy — that of resorting to the 
tomb of the Fisherman} He bends his head 
before that tomb, where the head that bore 
the diadem, in more pious ages, humbly 
bowed before the remains of Peter? His 
faith is deeply rooted in his soul, and he 
prays that all who have strayed, with him, 
from the fold of truth, may abandon their 
errors, and return, with him, to the Holy 
Church, who extends her forgiving hands 

1 St. Isidore. 2 St. Augustine, Ep. xlii. 



276 ZENOsius. 



from the Seven Hills, to encourage and wel- 
come them back. Oh, what pencil might 
portray the burning fervor of his heart, that 
glowed upon his impassioned brow, when 
he invoked the grace of God, through the 
intercession of the " Fisherman," in behalf 
of his dearly-cherished sister — his own Eu- 
thalia. Incessantly did he repeat his obse- 
crations, and shed his tears, for her conver- 
sion. Be of good cheer, Zenosius, the 
prayer of the Just availeth much ! 

The following strain, in which, on retiring 
from the shrine, he gave vent to his convic- 
tions and feelings, will tell how profound 
were the former, how intense the latter : 

God ! while round us foams the tide 

Of error, spreading ruin wide. 

In whom, in whom shall we confide, 

But in thee, God of might ! 
One only column, strong and high, 
Whose base the rock, whose cap the sky, 
For time built and eternity. 

Arrests and cheers my wavering sight. 



z E N s I u s . 277 



Around it, raging winds may blow — ■ 
The rains may beat upon its brow — 
The waves may dash and fret below — 

That column stands sublime : 
. For thou hast, with almighty hands, 
Erected it — not on the sands, 
But on the rocks, where strong it stands, 

Unshaken to the end of time. 

Oh ! may we cleave — while others fall 
With their frail pillars, earth-made all, 
And vainly for assistance call — 

Oh ! may we cling and cleave 
To Truth's firm column, reared to save 
Thy children, when the errors rave 
Around it, from a fatal grave ; — 

O God ! protect us — we believe. 

On the succeeding day, his hopes were 
consummated, and his joys attained their 
perfection. He was admitted to the pres- 
ence of the Father of the Faithful ; — he 
bowed his fihal head before the august rep- 
resentative of Christ, and the legitimate 
successor of Saint Peter. With benignity 
was he received, — with affection embraced, 

— 



278 ZENosius 



— with mercy pardoned for his past errors. 
" Would to God," the Pontiff fe eh ngly said, 
'' that all the deluded children of the Ref- 
ormation would act with a courage and sin- 
cerity similar to thine, my beloved child ; 
would come and throw themselves into the 
arms of him, unworthy though he be, who 
hath been constituted the visible head of the 
Church, and the centre of unity. My bless- 
ing be with thee. Return to thy native 
land, and be an example and an encourage- 
ment to thy well-disposed, and thy truth- 
seeking countrymen." 

He returned ; and when the green hills 
and smiling vales that surround his hom^e, 
saluted his exulting vision, Eirene, appear- 
ing again, spoke : — '' Zenosius, thy work is 
done. Thy fidelity hath been remunerated. 
Thou hast found the * precious gem/ And, 
that nothing might be wanting to render thy 
happiness complete, thy fair and loved Eu- 
thalia is, likewise, at rest — not only a con- 
vert to the ancient Catholic faith, but a 



z E NO s lu s. 279 



I vestal of Religion — a devoted Sister of Cha- 

' rity." 

*' Blessed Sister !" exclaimed Zenosius. 
'' Her destiny is that of perpetual perfec- 
tion ! She hath, then, been faithful to her 
promise, and God's grace. Immortal thanks 
to Thee, Father of mercies, fountain of 
Light and Truth ! Not alone have I, but 
my dear Euthaha, likewise, hath been res- 
cued from the labyrinth of Sectarianism. 
We have both, at last, found rest in the 

PEACEFUL TABERNACLES OF RoME." 



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work the most extensive circulation possible, the subscriber has 
published an edition at the prices stated, which it must be obvious 
are so very low, that only the widest sales can remunerate him. 
To obtain this, he relies with confidence on the Catholic public. 

CATHOLIC CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTED 

In the Sacraments, Sacrifices, Ceremonies, and Observances of the 
Church, by the Most Rev. Dr. Chailoner. 1 vol. 18mo. 

This is another standard work, which, in order to ensure it that 
general circulation for v,-hich its authority, brevity, and clearness 
evidently adapt it, the subscriber issues at the very lovvest rates, 
viz.: 

In neat paper covers 18 3-4 cts. 

In cloth and sheep binding, . . 37 1-2 " 

It should be in the hands of the young, that they may learn the 
wisdom and holiness of their religion, and in the hands of the 
aged, that they may remember the same. No better present can 
be offered the honest, inquiring Protestant — no better present can 
be given to a Catholic, whether young or old. — Truth Teller. 



Published by Edward Dunigan, 151 Fulton st. 



THE URSULINE MANUAL, 

Or, A Collection of Prayers, Spiritual Exercises, &c., interspersed 
with the various instructions necessary for forming Youth to 
the practice of solid piety. Revised by the Very Rev. John 
Power, D. D., and approved by the Rt. Rev. John Hughes, D. D., 
Bishop of New York. 

The edition now offered of this universally approved Prayer 
Book, is printed on the finest paper, in the best manner, and em- 
bellished with 6 illuminations, from original designs, in the style of 
the ancient missals, and 22 fine steel engravings, by the most em- 
inent artists in the country ; and is believed to be the most elegant 
edition of a Catholic Prayer Book printed in the English language. 
18mo. size. 

Price, in rich velvet binding, gilt edge, and clasps, with 
morocco case, 6 illuminations, from original 
designs, and 22 fine steel engravings, . . $9 00 

" superb Turkey morocco, gilt edge, 6 illumina- 
tions, from original designs, and 16 fine steel 
engravings 2 50 

" superb Turkey morocco, gilt edge, 17 fine steel 

engravings, . 2 00 

" imitation Turkey morocco, gilt edge, 17 fine steel 

engravings 1 50 

" imitation Turkey morocco, gilt edge, 11 fine steel 

engravings 1 25 

" imitation Turkey morocco, marble edge, 5 fine 

steel engravings, 1 00 

" imitation Turkey morocco, plain edge, 2 fine 

steel engravings, 75 

" neat sheep binding, 1 fine engraving, .... 50 



THE DOUAY CATECHISM, 

Or, An Abridgment of the Christian Doctrine, with proofs of 
Scripture on points controverted, by way of question and an- 
swer, composed in 1649 by the Rev. Henry Tuber vi He, D. D., of 
the English College of Douay, approved and recommended by 
the Rt. Rev. Benedict, Bishop of Boston. 

In the great essentials of clearness and brevity, this celebrated 
exposition of Catholic dogma has long been and still is unrivalled. 
18mo. Price 18^ cents. 

The Most Rev. James Butler's Catechism, revised, enlarged, 
improved, and printed in large type. Price 37J cents per dozen. 



FLOV/ERS OF PIETY, 

Selected from approved sources, and adapted to general use. Ap- 
proved by the Rt. Rev. John Hughes, D. U., Bishop of New York. 

To those who wish a prayer book, small but comprehensive, 
this popular manual of prayer is recommended as containing al- 
most every thing needed. It is embellished with 8 illuminations 
from orighiai designs, and 9 finely-finished steel engravings by 
eminent artists, and printed on the finest paper in the best man- 
ner. Two sizes, 48mo. and 32mo. 

Price in rich velvet binding, gilt edgings, and clasps, with mo- 
rocco case, 8 illuminations, from original designs, and 9 steel 
engravings, 32mo. size, ^ $5 50 

" superb Turkey morocco, gilt edge, 8 illumina- 
tions, from original designs, and 9 steel engra- 
vings, 32mo. size, 1 50 

" Turkey morocco, gilt edge, 10 fine engravings, 

32mo. size 1 00 

" imitation Turkey morocco, gilt edge, 8 plates, 

32mo 5P 

" imitation Turkey morocco, plain edge, 4 plates, 

32mo 38 

" plain sheep, 2 plates, 32mo. .... 25 

" superb Turkey morocco, gilt edge, 8 illumina- 
tions, from original designs, and 9 steel engra- 
vings, 48mo. size, 1 25 

" Turkey morocco, gilt edge, 10 fine engravings, 

48mo. size, 1 00 

" imitation Turkey morocco, gilt edge, 8 plates, 

48mo. size, 50 

" imitation Turkey morocco, plain edge, 4 plates, 

48mo 38 

" plain sheep, 1 plate,, 48mo 18| 



THE MANUAL OF CATHOLIC PIETY, 

Containing a selection of fervent Prayers, Pious Reflections, Pa- 
thetic Meditations, and Solid Reflections, adapted to every state 
of life. By the Rev. William Gahan, O. S. A. 24mo. size. To 
Which is added the Ordinary of the Mass in Latin and English, in 
large type, together with the Stations, or Holy Way of the Cross. 

Price in neat sheep binding, 1 plate, 38 

" imitation Turkey, plain edge, 4 plates, . . 50 

" imitation Turkey, gilt edge, 8 plates, . . 75 

" superb Turkey morocco, gilt edge, 12 plates, . 1 50 



Published by Edward Dunigariy 151 Fulfon st. 



ST- IGNATIUS AND HIS FIRST COMPANIONS. 

By the Rev. Charles Constantine Pise, D. D., author of the His- 
tory of the Church, Aletheia, Father Rowland, Indian Cottage, 
&c. &c. 

To readers of every taste, this handsome volume, marked by 
the well-known scholarship and correct and graceful style of the 
reverend author, cannot fail to be acceptable, for there is nothing 
in all literature more instructive, wonderful, or more edifying than 
the deeds and words of the sages and saints who founded on eartli 
the illustrious company of Jesus. Beautifully printed, with a 
frontispiece, engraved on steel, of nine portraits, in 1 vol. 12mo. 
bound in cloth. Price $1. 

Written in a style of great elegance and classical purity, on a 
subject that must make the coldest heart beat quick, and the dull- 
est toneue grow eloquent. — Brownsori's Review. 

St. Ignatius and his First Companions is a very elegantly 
printed work. The author is the famous Dr. Charles Constantine 
Pise, one of the brightest ornaments of the Church, and a very 
pleasing and elegant writer. The biography of Loyola is of 
course written with the warmth of friendship, and is very inter- 
esting. That of Xavier, who is honored by all religious denomi- 
nations, is rather more so. The lives of the other companions 
are also agreeably narrated, and will attract much attention from 
there being new light thrown upon the canvass. — J^ew York 
True Sun. 



THE CROWNING HOUR, 

And other Poems. By Charles James Cannon, author of Mora 
Carmody, &c. 

This collection of Mr. Cannon's poems has met with marked 
approbation from the literary journals, and is characterized by 
that chaste and quiet beauty which so favorably distinguishes his 
poetical productions. Many of the pieces are of a decidedly re- 
ligious character. 1 vol. 12mo., with a portrait of the author 
finely executed on steel. Price 37 1-2 cts. 

THE IMITATION, 

OR, FOLLOWING OF CHRIST. 
By Thomas ci Kempis : translated from the original Latin by 
the Rt. Rev. R. Challoner, D. D., to which is added a Life of 
the author. 

This pocket edition of this golden book, it is hoped, will find its 
way into universal favor for its cheapness, large type, and accu- 
racy. In 1 vol. 32mo., extra cloth, gilt backs. Price 25 cents. 



Published by Edward Dunigan, 151 Fulton st. 



SYMBOLISM, 

Or, Exposition of the Doctrinal Difference between Catholics 
and Protestants, as evidenced by their symbolical writings. By 
John Adam Moehler, D. D., dean of Wurzburg, and late Pro- 
fessor of Theology in the University of Munich. Translated 
from the German, with a memoir of the author, preceded by an 
historical sketch of the state of Protestantism and Catholicism 
in Germany for the last hundred years, by James Burton Rob- 
inson, Esq. 1 vol, octavo, bound in cloth, at $2. 

No religious work of the present century has excited such gen- 
eral and just sensation in the literary world, as none has been dis- 
tinguished by such immense erudition, irresistible logic, and sound 
philosophy. It may be said to belong to the very highest order of 
religious controversy, and the very favorable reception which it 
has met in this country from all denominations, appears to indi- 
cate a healthful and cheering tone of religious inquiry. 

The following is from Brownsori's Quarterly Review : — We are 
at a loss which most to admire in this book, the varied and ex- 
hausting erudition of the author, his singularly impartial judg- 
ment, or philosophical acuteness, and depth of his intellect. 



MORA CARMODY, 

OR, WOMAN'S INFLUENCE. 
By Charles James Cannon, author of 'Harry Layden,* 'Crown- 
ing Hour,' ' Poet's Q,uest,' &c. &c. 1 vol. 18mo., extra cloth, 
gilt backs. Price 37 1-2 cts. 

This is a very pleasant little book, written with a serious inten- 
tion, and with an ability and genius from which we have much 
to hope. — Brownsoii' s Quarterly Review. 

A very pleasing, well-written, and interesting tale, introducing 
many of the controverted points between Catholics and Protest- 
ants. We recommend it to our female readers, as it in an espe- 
cial manner illustrates the influence they possess over society, 
and the great advantages they may have, by being well instruct- 
ed in their holy religion. — Truth Teller. 



ROSARY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 

32mo. Price 3 cents. 



Published by Edward Dunigaiiy 151 Fulton st. 

VI CTO Rl N Ej 

A TALE FROM REAL LIFE. 

Embellished with a finely engraved portrait on steel. 1 vol. 
32nio., extra cloth, gilt edge. Price 37 1-2 cts. 

This handsome little book is a most interesting memoir of a 
young person, who, after a life as edifying as it was brief, died at 
the age of 16, in the institution of the Lodee, of the congregation 
of Notre Dame, Paris. A fragile flower, that faded on earth, to 
live in God. We cannot imagine a more suitable present for 
young persons than "Victorine," imbued as it is with all that is 
beautiful and exalted in sentiment and morality. — FreeviaiVs 
Journal. 

THINK V/ELL ON'T, 

Or, Reflections on the great truths of the Christian Religion, for 
every day in the month, by the Rt. Rev. R. Challoner, D. D., to 
which is added. Devotions to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. 

A handsome pocket edition of this popular little work of spirit- 
ual devotion, 1 vol. 32mo., neatly done up in extra cloth with gilt 
backs. Price 18^ cents. 

CATHOLICISM COMPATIBLE WITH REPUBLI- 
CAN GOVERNMENT? 

And in accordance with Popular Institutions; Or, Reflections 
upon a Premium Treatise issued by the American Protestant 
Society, under the signature of " Civis." By Fenelon. Price 
12| cents. 

In this pamphlet, printed on fine white paper, in clear, open 
type, is brought together an .rresistible mass of facts and argu- 
ments in refutation of the vulgar prejudice that Catholicism is in- 
imical to republican institutions. It is exceedingly well adapted 
for circulation among Protestants, and with that view is issued at 
a cheap rate. 



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